US Treasury Department Advises Biden to Form Global Alliance on Cryptocurrency Regulation

Last Thursday, the US Treasury Department published a fact sheet titled “Framework for International Engagement on Digital Assets,” a follow-up on President Biden’s executive order on crypto regulation.

The fact sheet narrated that the Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, has delivered “a framework for interagency engagement with foreign counterparts and in international fora as directed in the President’s executive order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets” to President Biden.

The document calls on the US and its allies to concert efforts into creating global standards for regulating crypto assets. The Treasury Department explained: “Uneven regulation, supervision, and compliance across jurisdictions creates opportunities for arbitrage and raises risks to financial stability and the protection of consumers, investors, businesses, and markets.” It added:

“Inadequate anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regulation, supervision, and enforcement by other countries challenges the ability of the United States to investigate illicit digital asset transaction flows that frequently jump overseas, as is often the case in ransomware payments and other cybercrime-related money laundering.”

The government agency further asserted that the US must collaborate with international counterparts on the matter and take up a leadership role in the discussions of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and digital payment structures. The Department explained that “such international work should continue to address the full spectrum of issues and challenges raised by digital assets, including financial stability; consumer and investor protection, and business risks; and money laundering, terrorist financing, proliferation financing.”

US Treasury Department Document Lists Key Players for the US to Engage

The published document lists key international partners for the US, including the G7 and G20 countries, the Financial Stability Board (FSB), the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), The World Bank, and other Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs).

Finally, the Department further explained:

“What’s outlined in the framework is intended to ensure that, with respect to the development of digital assets, America’s core democratic values are respected; consumers, investors, and businesses are protected; appropriate global financial system connectivity and platform and architecture interoperability are preserved, and the safety and soundness of the global financial system and international monetary system are maintained.”