Washington, D.C. – At a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs (BHUA) Committee hearing, Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and U.S. Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo discussed the need to pass the bipartisan FEND Off Fentanyl Act and give the administration additional tools to combat the financing of transnational drug trafficking schemes via cryptocurrencies.
Senator Cortez Masto highlighted recent sanctions against individuals and companies using cryptocurrencies to engage in fentanyl trafficking, highlighting the “pervasive and deep interconnectedness of illicit drug trafficking and crypto.” U.S. Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo called for Congress to provide the administration with additional tools to go after drug traffickers that are increasingly moving to using crypto to finance their drug trafficking schemes.
Last year, Senator Cortez Masto joined bipartisan legislation to crack down on the use of cryptocurrency in money laundering and close loopholes exploited by criminal enterprises. She is also pushing for passage of the bipartisan FEND Off Fentanyl Act to give Treasury additional tools to combat transnational drug traffickers.
During the hearing, Secretary Adeyemo called for passage of the FEND off Fentanyl Act saying, “actions that would provide us with additional authorities to go after fentanyl would be quite helpful.” He also urged Congress to provide Treasury with additional tools to specifically target illicit finance facilitated by cryptocurrency, including tools needed to crack down on criminals using “cryptocurrency mixers” to launder money. In 2022 almost 10% of all crypto addresses tied to illicit activity were laundered through mixers.
You can watch the full exchange here.
In October, Senator Cortez Masto joined a bipartisan effort asking the Biden Administration to crack down on illicit financing of international terrorism in response to reports that Hamas raised millions in crypto to fund its operations. She’s also cosponsored the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act, which would close loopholes in current law and bring cryptocurrency companies into greater compliance with the anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism frameworks that govern the traditional financial system. She has passed into law her bipartisan legislation to combat money laundering and terrorism by bolstering the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and ensuring it focuses on virtual currencies.
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