I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4813 

To prohibit large platform utilities from being a financial institution or 

being affiliated with a person that is a financial institution, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 23, 2019 

Mr. GARCI ́A of Illinois introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on 

Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 

in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To prohibit large platform utilities from being a financial 

institution or being affiliated with a person that is a 

financial institution, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Keep Big Tech Out 

5 Of Finance Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION RELATED TO LARGE PLATFORM UTIL2 ITIES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—A large platform utility may not 

4 be, and may not be affiliated with any person that is, a 

5 financial institution. 

6 (b) PROHIBITION RELATED TO

7 CRYPTOCURRENCIES.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—A large platform utility may 

9 not establish, maintain, or operate a digital asset 

10 that is intended to be widely used as medium of ex11 change, unit of account, store of value, or any other 

12 similar function, as defined by the Board of Gov13 ernors of the Federal Reserve System. 

14 (2) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of paragraph 

15 (1), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 

16 System shall define the terms ‘‘medium of ex17 change’’, ‘‘unit of account’’, and ‘‘store of value’’. 

18 (c) WIND-DOWN PERIOD.—With respect to a large 

19 platform utility— 

20 (1) if the large platform utility is, or is affili21 ated with a person that is, a financial institution on 

22 the date of enactment of this Act, subsection (a) 

23 shall not apply to such large platform utility until 

24 the end of the 1-year period beginning on the date 

25 of enactment of this Act; and 


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1 (2) if the large platform utility maintains or op2 erates a digital asset described under subsection 

3 (b)(1) on the date of enactment of this Act, sub4 section (b) shall not apply to such large platform 

5 utility until the end of the 1-year period beginning 

6 on the date of enactment of this Act. 

7 (d) PENALTY.—Any large platform utility or finan8 cial institution that violates subsection (a) or (b) shall be 

9 subject to a fine of not more than $1,000,000 per each 

10 day of such violation, in an action brought by the appro11 priate Federal financial regulator. 

12 (e) RULEMAKING.—The appropriate Federal finan13 cial regulators may issue rules to carry out this section. 

14 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

15 (1) AFFILIATE.—The term ‘‘affiliate’’ has the 

16 meaning given that term under section 2 of the 

17 Bank Holding Company Act of 1956. 

18 (2) ALTERNATIVE TRADING SYSTEM.—The 

19 term ‘‘alternative trading system’’ has the meaning 

20 given that term under section 242.300 of title 17, 

21 Code of Federal Regulations. 

22 (3) APPROPRIATE FEDERAL FINANCIAL REGU23 LATOR.—The term ‘‘appropriate Federal financial 

24 regulator’’ means— 


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1 (A) the appropriate Federal banking agen2 cy; 

3 (B) the Commodity Futures Trading Com4 mission, in the case of a commodity pool oper5 ator, commodity trading advisor, and a futures 

6 commission merchant; 

7 (C) the National Credit Union Administra8 tion Board, in the case of a credit union; 

9 (D) the Securities and Exchange Commis10 sion, in the case of an alternative trading sys11 tem, a broker, a dealer, an investment adviser, 

12 an investment company, a national securities 

13 exchange, and a private fund; and 

14 (E) the Board of Governors of the Federal 

15 Reserve System, in the case of a financial insti16 tution or a large platform utility that does not 

17 otherwise have an appropriate Federal financial 

18 regulator under subparagraph (A) through (D). 

19 (4) BANKING DEFINITIONS.—The terms ‘‘ap20 propriate Federal banking agency’’, ‘‘depository in21 stitution’’, and ‘‘depository institution holding com22 pany’’ have the meaning given those terms, respec23 tively, under section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insur24 ance Act. 


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1 (5) COMMODITIES DEFINITIONS.—The terms 

2 ‘‘commodity pool operator’’, ‘‘commodity trading ad3 visor’’, and ‘‘futures commission merchant’’ have the 

4 meaning given those terms, respectively, under sec5 tion 1a of the Commodity Exchange Act. 

6 (6) CREDIT UNION.—The term ‘‘credit union’’ 

7 means a Federal credit union or a State credit 

8 union, as such terms are defined, respectively, under 

9 section 101 of the Federal Credit Union Act. 

10 (7) DIGITAL ASSET.—The term ‘‘digital asset’’ 

11 means an asset that is issued and transferred using 

12 distributed ledger or blockchain technology, includ13 ing, so-called ‘‘virtual currencies’’, ‘‘coins’’, and ‘‘to14 kens’’. 

15 (8) FINANCIAL INSTITUTION.—The term ‘‘fi16 nancial institution’’ means— 

17 (A) an alternative trading system; 

18 (B) a branch or agency of a foreign bank, 

19 as defined in section 1(b) of the International 

20 Banking Act of 1978; 

21 (C) a broker; 

22 (D) a commodity pool operator; 

23 (E) a commodity trading advisor; 

24 (F) a credit union; 

25 (G) a dealer; 


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1 (H) a depository institution; 

2 (I) a depository institution holding com3 pany; 

4 (J) a futures commission merchant; 

5 (K) an investment adviser; 

6 (L) an investment company; 

7 (M) a national securities exchange; 

8 (N) an organization operating under sec9 tion 25 or 25A of the Federal Reserve Act; 

10 (O) a private fund; 

11 (P) a State-licensed money services busi12 ness; and 

13 (Q) any company engaged in activities that 

14 are financial in nature or incidental to a finan15 cial activity, as described in section 4 of the 

16 Bank Holding Company Act of 1956. 

17 (9) LARGE PLATFORM UTILITY.—The term 

18 ‘‘large platform utility’’ means a technology com19 pany— 

20 (A) with an annual global revenue of 

21 $25,000,000,000 or more; and 

22 (B) that is predominately engaged in the 

23 business of offering to the public an online mar24 ketplace, an exchange, or a platform for con25 necting third parties. 


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1 (10) MONEY SERVICES BUSINESS.—The term 

2 ‘‘money services business’’ has the meaning given 

3 that term under section 1010.100 of title 31, Code 

4 of Federal Regulations. 

5 (11) PRIVATE FUND.—The term ‘‘private fund’’ 

6 has the meaning given that term under section 

7 202(a) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. 

8 (12) SECURITIES DEFINITIONS.—The terms 

9 ‘‘broker’’, ‘‘dealer’’, ‘‘investment adviser’’, ‘‘invest10 ment company’’, and ‘‘national securities exchange’’ 

11 have the meaning given those terms, respectively, 

12 under section 3 of the Securities Exchange Act of 

13 1934. 

Æ 


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