The U.S. Treasury Department asks Congress to give it more power to go after illegal actors in the digital asset industry

Wally Adeyemo, Deputy Secretary of the US Treasury, stated in a speech at the Blockchain Association Policy Summit that the US Treasury is seeking more power from Congress to crack down on illegal activities in the digital asset industry. Adeyemo stated that the Treasury has proposed recommendations to legislators, including a proposal for new sanction tools. He said, "We call on Congress to establish a secondary sanction system, which will not only sever a company's ties to the US financial system, but also cut off any company that continues to do business with sanctioned entities from the US financial system. This is an important tool that we will not ask for lightly. But we need to make every effort to ensure that groups like Hamas cannot exploit loopholes in the digital asset ecosystem." Adeyemo also stated that "dollar-backed stablecoin providers" outside the US should not use the US dollar if they do not have procedures to prevent terrorists from using their platforms.