I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4752 

To establish an Independent Financial Technology Task Force, to provide 

rewards for information leading to convictions related to terrorist use 

of digital currencies, to establish a FinTech Leadership in Innovation 

Fund to encourage the development of tools and programs to combat 

terrorist and illicit use of digital currencies, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 10, 2018 

Mr. BUDD introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To establish an Independent Financial Technology Task 

Force, to provide rewards for information leading to 

convictions related to terrorist use of digital currencies, 

to establish a FinTech Leadership in Innovation Fund 

to encourage the development of tools and programs 

to combat terrorist and illicit use of digital currencies, 

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 ‘‘Financial Technology 

5 Innovation and Defense Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

2 It is the sense of Congress that the Federal Govern3 ment should prioritize the investigation of terrorist and 

4 illicit use of new financial technology, including digital 

5 currencies. 

6 SEC. 3. INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY TASK 

7 FORCE. 

8 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the Inde9 pendent Financial Technology Task Force (the ‘‘Task 

10 Force’’), which shall consist of— 

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

12 serve as the head of the Task Force; 

13 (2) the Attorney General; 

14 (3) the Director of the Central Intelligence 

15 Agency; 

16 (4) the Director of the Financial Crimes En17 forcement Network; 

18 (5) the Director of the Secret Service; 

19 (6) the Director of the Federal Bureau of In20 vestigations; and 

21 (7) 4 individuals appointed by the Secretary of 

22 the Treasury to represent the private sector (includ23 ing the banking industry, non-profit groups, and 

24 think tanks). 

25 (b) DUTIES.—The Task Force shall— 


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1 (1) conduct independent research on terrorist 

2 and illicit use of new financial technologies, includ3 ing digital currencies; and 

4 (2) develop legislative and regulatory proposals 

5 to improve counter-terrorist and counter-illicit fi6 nancing efforts. 

7 (c) ANNUAL CONGRESSIONAL REPORT.—Not later 

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

9 and annually thereafter, the Task Force shall issue a re10 port to the Congress containing the findings and deter11 minations made by the Task Force in the previous year 

12 and any legislative and regulatory proposals developed by 

13 the Task Force. 

14 SEC. 4. REWARDS FOR INFORMATION RELATED TO TER15 RORIST USE OF DIGITAL CURRENCIES. 

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

17 consultation with the Attorney General, shall establish a 

18 program to pay a reward to any person who provides infor19 mation leading to the conviction of an individual involved 

20 with terrorist use of digital currencies. 

21 (b) USE OF APPROPRIATED FUNDS.—To the extent 

22 provided in advance by appropriation Acts, the Secretary 

23 may use appropriated funds to pay a reward under this 

24 section with respect to information leading to a conviction 

25 described under subsection (a) if the amount of fines and 


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1 forfeitures related to such conviction are not sufficient to 

2 pay such reward. 

3 (c) USE OF FINES AND FORFEITURES.—With re4 spect to fines and forfeitures related to the conviction of 

5 an individual involved with terrorist use of digital cur6 rencies, the Secretary of the Treasury shall, without fur7 ther appropriation or fiscal year limitation— 

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

9 section related to such conviction; 

10 (2) with respect to any such amounts remaining 

11 after payments are made under paragraph (1), repay 

12 to the general fund of the Treasury— 

13 (A) any reward amounts paid using appro14 priated funds under subsection (b); and 

15 (B) the amount of any funds appropriated 

16 to the FinTech Leadership in Innovation Fund 

17 established under section 5; and 

18 (3) with respect to any such amounts remaining 

19 after payments are made under paragraphs (2) and 

20 (3), deposit such amounts in the FinTech Leader21 ship in Innovation Fund. 

22 SEC. 5. FINTECH LEADERSHIP IN INNOVATION FUND. 

23 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a fund to 

24 be known as the ‘‘FinTech Leadership in Innovation 

25 Fund’’, which shall be available to the Secretary of the 


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1 Treasury, without further appropriation or fiscal year lim2 itation, to carry out this section. 

3 (b) INNOVATION GRANTS.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treas5 ury shall make grants for the development of tools 

6 and programs to detect terrorist and illicit use of 

7 digital currencies. 

8 (2) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENTS.—The Secretary may 

9 make grants under this subsection to entities located 

10 in the United States, including academic institu11 tions, companies, non-profit institutions, individuals, 

12 and any other entities locating in the United States 

13 that the Secretary determines appropriate. 

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

15 and programs described under paragraph (1), in ad16 dition to grants for the development of such tools 

17 and programs, the Secretary may make grants 

18 under this subsection to carry out pilot programs 

19 using such tools, the development of test cases using 

20 such tools, and research related to such tools. 

21 (4) PREFERENCES.—In making grants under 

22 this subsection, the Secretary shall give preference 

23 to— 

24 (A) technology that is non-proprietary or 

25 that is community commons-based; 


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1 (B) computer code that is developed and 

2 released on an open source basis; and 

3 (C) tools that are proactive (such as meet4 ing regulatory requirements under ‘‘know your 

5 customer’’ and anti-money laundering require6 ments for any entity that has to comply with 

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

8 as aiding law enforcement organizations in 

9 catching illegal activity after the fact). 

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. 

23 (C) OPEN ACCESS REQUIREMENT.—Tools 

24 and programs developed with a grant made 

25 under this subsection shall be freely accessible 


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1 and usable by the public. This requirement may 

2 be fulfilled by publicly availing application pro3 gramming interfaces or software development 

4 kits. 

5 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

6 For purposes of this Act: 

7 (1) BANK SECRECY ACT.—The term ‘‘Bank Se8 crecy Act’’ means— 

9 (A) section 21 of the Federal Deposit In10 surance Act; 

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

12 508; and 

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

14 United States Code. 

15 (2) DIGITAL CURRENCY.—The term ‘‘digital 

16 currency’’— 

17 (A) means a digital representation of value 

18 that— 

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

20 unit of account, or store of value; and 

21 (ii) is not legal tender, whether or not 

22 denominated in legal tender; and 

23 (B) does not include— 

24 (i) a transaction in which a merchant 

25 grants, as part of an affinity or rewards 


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1 program, value that cannot be taken from 

2 or exchanged with the merchant for legal 

3 tender, bank credit, or digital currency; or 

4 (ii) a digital representation of value 

5 issued by or on behalf of a publisher and 

6 used solely within an online game, game 

7 platform, or family of games sold by the 

8 same publisher or offered on the same 

9 game platform. 

10 (3) TERRORIST.—The term ‘‘terrorist’’ includes 

11 a person carrying out domestic terrorism or inter12 national terrorism (as such terms are defined, re13 spectively, under section 2331 of title 18, United 

14 States Code). 

Æ 


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