US Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin said that billions of dollars are involved in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies involved in illegal activities. In his opinion, providers of digital money and traditional financial services should be equally regulated.

"There are billions of dollars in bids and other cryptocurrencies for illicit purposes," says Treasury Secretary Mnuchin pic.twitter.com/kQpxNQIFbA

– Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) July 18, 2019

So, Mnuchin mentioned the norms of the Network for Combating Financial Crimes (FinCEN) and the USA Banking Secrets Act. He added that regulators need to make sure bitcoin is used only for legitimate purposes. At the same time, the ministry supports financial innovations that reduce costs, especially in cross-border payments.

At the same time, he once again stated that Bitcoin should not become an analogue of an account in a Swiss bank, and did not recognize that fiat money for washing purposes is used much more often.

If you ’re concerned, #jood

"We are going to make sure that bitcoin doesn’t become the equivalent to swiss numbered bank accounts" says @ stevenmnuchin1 pic.twitter.com/EnBsteTHzU

– Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) July 18, 2019

Note that Mnuchin supported the G7 general line of finance ministers regarding Libra’s digital currency, which Facebook is developing.

At the beginning of January last year, a cryptocurrency working group was established under the American Council on the Supervision of Financial Stability (FSOC). At the same time, the US Treasury promised to cooperate with G20 partners in preventing the use of cryptocurrency in illegal activities.

Earlier this week, Mnuchin called the fight against the illegal use of cryptocurrency a national security issue that worries the administration of Donald Trump.

Recall that on June 21, the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) presented the final version of the guidelines for the cryptocurrency industry. In a published document, FATF obliged Bitcoin exchanges and other cryptocurrency service providers (VASPs) to comply with AML and CFT procedures, similar to traditional financial companies.

BlockchainJournal figured out what consequences this decision has for the industry, and also gathered expert opinions, which, as expected, differed in what was going on.

A game of cat and mouse with regulators, or what the new FATF recommendations mean for the bitcoin industry

On July 16 and 17, a Libra hearing was held in the US Congress, where CEO Calibra David Marcus spoke in detail about the project. BlockchainJournal closely followed the events and gathered the main theses of the top manager in one piece.

Fear and Loathing on Capitol Hill: How Facebook survived the Libra digital currency hearing

Subscribe to the BlockchainJournal news in Telegram: BlockchainJournal Live – the entire news feed, BlockchainJournal – the most important news and polls.