IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 56 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 29, 2019 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

Urban Affairs 

AN ACT 

To establish an Independent Financial Technology Task 

Force to Combat Terrorism and Illicit Financing, to 

provide rewards for information leading to convictions 

related to terrorist use of digital currencies, to establish 

a Fintech Leadership in Innovation and Financial Intelligence Program to encourage the development of tools 

and programs to combat terrorist and illicit use of digital 

currencies, and for other purposes. 


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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 ‘‘Financial Technology 

5 Protection Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 It is the sense of Congress that the Federal Govern8 ment should prioritize the investigation of terrorist and 

9 illicit use of new financial technology, including digital 

10 currencies. 

11 SEC. 3. INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY TASK 

12 FORCE TO COMBAT TERRORISM AND ILLICIT 

13 FINANCING. 

14 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the Inde15 pendent Financial Technology Task Force to Combat Ter16 rorism and Illicit Financing (the ‘‘Task Force’’), which 

17 shall consist of— 

18 (1) the Secretary of the Treasury, who shall 

19 serve as the head of the Task Force; 

20 (2) the Attorney General; 

21 (3) the Director of National Intelligence; 

22 (4) the Director of the Financial Crimes En23 forcement Network; 

24 (5) the Director of the Secret Service; 


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1 (6) the Director of the Federal Bureau of In2 vestigation; and 

3 (7) 6 individuals appointed by the Secretary of 

4 the Treasury, in consultation with the members of 

5 the Task Force described under paragraphs (2) 

6 through (6), to represent the private sector (includ7 ing the banking industry, nonprofit groups, and 

8 think tanks), with at least 2 of such individuals hav9 ing experience in the Fintech industry. 

10 (b) DUTIES.—The Task Force shall— 

11 (1) conduct independent research on terrorist 

12 and illicit use of new financial technologies, includ13 ing digital currencies; and 

14 (2) develop legislative and regulatory proposals 

15 to improve counter-terrorist and counter-illicit fi16 nancing efforts. 

17 (c) ANNUAL CONGRESSIONAL REPORT.—Not later 

18 than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

19 and annually thereafter, the Task Force shall issue a re20 port to the Congress containing the findings and deter21 minations made by the Task Force in the previous year 

22 and any legislative and regulatory proposals developed by 

23 the Task Force. 


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1 SEC. 4. REWARDS FOR INFORMATION RELATED TO TER2 RORIST USE OF DIGITAL CURRENCIES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treasury, in 

4 consultation with the Attorney General, shall establish a 

5 fund to pay a reward, not to exceed $450,000, to any per6 son who provides information leading to the conviction of 

7 an individual involved with terrorist use of digital cur8 rencies. 

9 (b) USE OF FINES AND FORFEITURES.—With re10 spect to fines and forfeitures related to the conviction of 

11 an individual involved with terrorist use of digital cur12 rencies, the Secretary of the Treasury shall, subject to the 

13 availability of appropriations made in advance— 

14 (1) use such amounts to pay rewards under this 

15 section related to such conviction; and 

16 (2) with respect to any such amounts remaining 

17 after payments are made under paragraphs (1) and 

18 (2), deposit such amounts in the Fintech Leadership 

19 in Innovation and Financial Intelligence Program. 

20 SEC. 5. FINTECH LEADERSHIP IN INNOVATION AND FINAN21 CIAL INTELLIGENCE PROGRAM. 

22 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a pro23 gram to be known as the ‘‘Fintech Leadership in Innova24 tion and Financial Intelligence Program’’, which shall be 

25 funded as provided under section 4(b)(2). 

26 (b) INNOVATION GRANTS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treas2 ury shall make grants for the development of tools 

3 and programs to detect terrorist and illicit use of 

4 digital currencies. 

5 (2) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENTS.—The Secretary may 

6 make grants under this subsection to entities located 

7 in the United States, including academic institu8 tions, companies, nonprofit institutions, individuals, 

9 and any other entities located in the United States 

10 that the Secretary determines appropriate. 

11 (3) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.—With respect to tools 

12 and programs described under paragraph (1), in ad13 dition to grants for the development of such tools 

14 and programs, the Secretary may make grants 

15 under this subsection to carry out pilot programs 

16 using such tools, the development of test cases using 

17 such tools, and research related to such tools. 

18 (4) PREFERENCES.—In making grants under 

19 this subsection, the Secretary shall give preference 

20 to— 

21 (A) technology that is nonproprietary or 

22 that is community commons-based; 

23 (B) computer code that is developed and 

24 released on an open source basis; 


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1 (C) tools that are proactive (such as meet2 ing regulatory requirements under ‘‘know your 

3 customer’’ and anti-money laundering require4 ments for any entity that has to comply with 

5 U.S. Government regulations) vs. reactive (such 

6 as aiding law enforcement organizations in 

7 catching illegal activity after the fact); and 

8 (D) tools and incentives that are on decen9 tralized platforms. 

10 (5) OTHER REQUIREMENTS.— 

11 (A) USE OF EXISTING GLOBAL STAND12 ARDS.—Any new technology developed with a 

13 grant made under this subsection shall be based 

14 on existing global standards, such as those de15 veloped by the Internet Engineering Task Force 

16 (IETF) and the World Wide Web Consortium 

17 (W3C). 

18 (B) SUPPORTING EXISTING LAWS OR REG19 ULATIONS.—Tools and programs developed with 

20 a grant made under this subsection shall be in 

21 support of existing laws or regulations, includ22 ing the Bank Secrecy Act, and make efforts to 

23 balance privacy and anti-money laundering con24 cerns. 


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1 (C) OPEN ACCESS REQUIREMENT.—Tools 

2 and programs developed with a grant made 

3 under this subsection shall be freely accessible 

4 and usable by the public. This requirement may 

5 be fulfilled by publicly availing application pro6 gramming interfaces or software development 

7 kits. 

8 SEC. 6. PREVENTING ROGUE AND FOREIGN ACTORS FROM 

9 EVADING SANCTIONS. 

10 (a) REPORT AND STRATEGY WITH RESPECT TO DIG11 ITAL CURRENCIES AND OTHER RELATED EMERGING

12 TECHNOLOGIES.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

14 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

15 President, acting through the Secretary of Treasury 

16 and in consultation with the Attorney General, the 

17 Secretary of State, the Secretary of Homeland Secu18 rity, the Director of National Intelligence, the Direc19 tor of the Office of Management and Budget, and 

20 the appropriate Federal banking agencies and Fed21 eral functional regulators, shall— 

22 (A) submit to the appropriate congres23 sional committees a report that identifies and 

24 describes the potential uses of digital currencies 

25 and other related emerging technologies by 


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1 states, non-state actors, and foreign terrorist 

2 organizations to evade sanctions, finance ter3 rorism, or launder monetary instruments, and 

4 threaten United States national security; and 

5 (B) develop and submit to the appropriate 

6 congressional committees a strategy to mitigate 

7 and prevent such illicit use of digital currencies 

8 and other related emerging technologies. 

9 (2) FORM; PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.— 

10 (A) FORM.—The report and strategy re11 quired under paragraph (1) shall be submitted 

12 in unclassified form, but may contain a classi13 fied annex. 

14 (B) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The unclassi15 fied portion of such report and strategy shall be 

16 made available to the public and posted on the 

17 internet website of the Department of Treas18 ury— 

19 (i) in pre-compressed, easily 

20 downloadable versions that are made avail21 able in all appropriate formats; and 

22 (ii) in machine-readable format, if ap23 plicable. 

24 (3) SOURCES OF INFORMATION.—In preparing 

25 the report and strategy required under paragraph 


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1 (1), the President may utilize any credible publica2 tion, database, web-based resource, and any credible 

3 information compiled by any government agency, 

4 nongovernmental organization, or other entity that 

5 is made available to the President. 

6 (b) BRIEFING.—Not later than 2 years after the date 

7 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Treasury 

8 shall brief the appropriate congressional committees on 

9 the implementation of the strategy required under sub10 section (a). 

11 SEC. 7. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 

12 The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 

13 complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 

14 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 

15 titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 

16 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 

17 by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, pro18 vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 

19 vote on passage. 

20 SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS. 

21 For purposes of this Act: 

22 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT23 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com24 mittees’’ means— 


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1 (A) the Committee on Financial Services, 

2 the Committee on the Judiciary, the Permanent 

3 Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Com4 mittee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Rep5 resentatives; and 

6 (B) the Committee on Banking, Housing, 

7 and Urban Affairs, the Committee on Home8 land Security and Governmental Affairs, the 

9 Committee on the Judiciary, the Select Com10 mittee on Intelligence, and the Committee on 

11 Foreign Relations of the Senate. 

12 (2) APPROPRIATE FEDERAL BANKING AGEN13 CIES.—The term ‘‘appropriate Federal banking 

14 agencies’’ has the meaning given the term in section 

15 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 

16 1813). 

17 (3) BANK SECRECY ACT.—The term ‘‘Bank Se18 crecy Act’’ means— 

19 (A) section 21 of the Federal Deposit In20 surance Act; 

21 (B) chapter 2 of title I of Public Law 91– 

22 508; and 

23 (C) subchapter II of chapter 53 of title 31, 

24 United States Code. 


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1 (4) DIGITAL CURRENCY.—The term ‘‘digital 

2 currency’’— 

3 (A) means a digital representation of value 

4 that— 

5 (i) is used as a medium of exchange, 

6 unit of account, or store of value; and 

7 (ii) is not established legal tender, 

8 whether or not denominated in established 

9 legal tender; and 

10 (B) does not include— 

11 (i) a transaction in which a merchant 

12 grants, as part of an affinity or rewards 

13 program, value that cannot be taken from 

14 or exchanged with the merchant for legal 

15 tender, bank credit, or digital currency; or 

16 (ii) a digital representation of value 

17 issued by or on behalf of a publisher and 

18 used solely within an online game, game 

19 platform, or family of games sold by the 

20 same publisher or offered on the same 

21 game platform. 

22 (5) FEDERAL FUNCTIONAL REGULATOR.—The 

23 term ‘‘Federal functional regulator’’ has the mean24 ing given that term in section 509 of the Gramm25 Leach-Bliley Act (15 U.S.C. 6809). 


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1 (6) FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION.—The 

2 term ‘‘foreign terrorist organization’’ means an or3 ganization that is designated as a foreign terrorist 

4 organization under section 219 of the Immigration 

5 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189). 

6 (7) TERRORIST.—The term ‘‘terrorist’’ includes 

7 a person carrying out domestic terrorism or inter8 national terrorism (as such terms are defined, re9 spectively, under section 2331 of title 18, United 

10 States Code). 

Passed the House of Representatives January 28, 

2019. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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