U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Adewale Adeyemo told the Senate Banking Committee that terrorists prefer cash, but the department is worried about crypto’s growth.
United States Deputy Treasury Secretary Adewale Adeyemo continued advocating for more enforcement powers for his agency in testimony before the Senate Banking Committee on April 9. In a hearing on countering illicit finance, terrorism and sanctions evasion, Adeyemo outlined three proposed reforms to improve U.S. enforcement efforts against international bad actors using crypto.
Adeyemo was following up on proposals made by the Treasury Department in November. In his latest testimony, Adeyemo listed three changes the department was looking for. Those were to introduce secondary sanctions targeting “foreign digital asset providers” engage illicit finance.
U.S. sanctions prohibit institutions from using U.S. correspondent accounts and transaction processing through banks, Adeyemo said, but crypto exchanges and money services do not always depend on the use of correspondent accounts. “A new secondary sanctions tool” is needed:
