Cryptocurrency has always been intriguingto governments aroundthe world. This is not for their own gain, but mainly because crypto is oftenperceived as a majorthreat to theireconomic and political power. A new foreign sanctions billsigned by President Trump could spella very difficult future for cryptocurrency as a whole. Under the law, specific foreign governments are asked to monitor cryptocurrency circulation to combat terrorism and illicit financial trends.

Every time a new piece of legislation is signed and turned into law,there is reason for concern. This has beenespecially true in the world of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency as of late. The so-calledCountering Americas Adversaries Through Sanctions Actmay bring a lot of problems to the cryptocurrency world in the near future. Among other things, the law coversanti-terrorist financing and combating illicit finance trends. It also touches oncryptocurrency in its current form, which is considered an illicit finance trend.

As a result of the new law recently signed by President Trump, severalforeign governments are requiredto take actionby monitoring cryptocurrency circulation within their borders. The countries affected by this directiveare Russia, North Korea, and Iran. Two out of those three would not seem to becausing significantproblems for cryptocurrency, as neither Iran nor North Korea is particularlyactive in the Bitcoin industry.

The exception is Russia, a country which has finally shown some appreciation for cryptocurrency in recent months. With thenew lawin place, the Russian government would effectively have to crack down on cryptocurrency usage once again. Although the U.S.proposal was designed to help counter terrorist financing, there has never been any evidence of cryptocurrency beingused to successfully fund such operations. For some unknown reason, governments are still eager to connect the two topics.

It is certainly true that cryptocurrencies have created new money flows which remain largely unregulated. That is a problem for any government, even though it has become clear that regulating cryptocurrency isa futile effort. The onlything governments can do is go after the companies who facilitate such transactions, including exchanges and brokers. Even then, cryptocurrencies can still be traced in a peer-to-peer fashion without relying on centralized platforms subject to governance.

The recently passed law callsfordiscussion of trends in illicit finance including forms of value transfer such as cryptocurrencies. Additionally, it requires the collection ofdata regarding cybercrime or other threats that may be identified by the U.S. government in the future. Thisis not the first time we have seen such adirective, as a similar proposal was made by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in May 2017.

All of this goes to show that the U.S. government is willing to attackcryptocurrency as a whole. Specifically, the countrycontinues to impose its vision onother nationswhere Bitcoin can make a big difference, such as Iran, Russia, and North Korea. Having a global currency that could remove the need for the dollar is understandably a significantconcern for the U.S. It will be interesting to see how this lawimpacts cryptocurrency in the future if at all.

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US Law Labels Cryptocurrency Illicit Finance Trend - The Merkle