IIB 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5036 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 27, 2018 

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 provide rewards for information leading to 

convictions related to terrorist use of digital currencies, 

to establish a FinTech Leadership in Innovation Program 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Financial Technology 

3 Protection Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

5 It is the sense of Congress that the Federal Govern6 ment should prioritize the investigation of terrorist and 

7 illicit use of new financial technology, including digital 

8 currencies. 

9 SEC. 3. INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY TASK 

10 FORCE. 

11 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the Inde12 pendent Financial Technology Task Force (the ‘‘Task 

13 Force’’), which shall consist of— 

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

15 serve as the head of the Task Force; 

16 (2) the Attorney General; 

17 (3) the Director of the Central Intelligence 

18 Agency; 

19 (4) the Director of the Financial Crimes En20 forcement Network; 

21 (5) the Director of the Secret Service; 

22 (6) the Director of the Federal Bureau of In23 vestigation; and 

24 (7) 6 individuals appointed by the Secretary of 

25 the Treasury to represent the private sector (includ26 ing the banking industry, nonprofit groups, and 


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1 think tanks), with at least 1 of such individuals hav2 ing experience in the Fintech industry. 

3 (b) DUTIES.—The Task Force shall— 

4 (1) conduct independent research on terrorist 

5 and illicit use of new financial technologies, includ6 ing digital currencies; and 

7 (2) develop legislative and regulatory proposals 

8 to improve counter-terrorist and counter-illicit fi9 nancing efforts. 

10 (c) ANNUAL CONGRESSIONAL REPORT.—Not later 

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

12 and annually thereafter, the Task Force shall issue a re13 port to the Congress containing the findings and deter14 minations made by the Task Force in the previous year 

15 and any legislative and regulatory proposals developed by 

16 the Task Force. 

17 SEC. 4. REWARDS FOR INFORMATION RELATED TO TER18 RORIST USE OF DIGITAL CURRENCIES. 

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

20 consultation with the Attorney General, shall establish a 

21 fund to pay a reward, not to exceed $450,000, to any per22 son who provides information leading to the conviction of 

23 an individual involved with terrorist use of digital cur24 rencies. 


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1 (b) USE OF FINES AND FORFEITURES.—With re2 spect to fines and forfeitures related to the conviction of 

3 an individual involved with terrorist use of digital cur4 rencies, the Secretary of the Treasury shall, subject to the 

5 availability of appropriations made in advance— 

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

7 section related to such conviction; and 

8 (2) with respect to any such amounts remaining 

9 after payments are made under paragraphs (1) and 

10 (2), deposit such amounts in the FinTech Leader11 ship in Innovation Program. 

12 SEC. 5. FINTECH LEADERSHIP IN INNOVATION PROGRAM. 

13 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a pro14 gram to be known as the ‘‘FinTech Leadership in Innova15 tion Program’’, which shall be funded as provided under 

16 section 4(b)(2). 

17 (b) INNOVATION GRANTS.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treas19 ury shall make grants for the development of tools 

20 and programs to detect terrorist and illicit use of 

21 digital currencies. 

22 (2) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENTS.—The Secretary may 

23 make grants under this subsection to entities located 

24 in the United States, including academic institu25 tions, companies, nonprofit institutions, individuals, 


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1 and any other entities locating in the United States 

2 that the Secretary determines appropriate. 

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

4 and programs described under paragraph (1), in ad5 dition to grants for the development of such tools 

6 and programs, the Secretary may make grants 

7 under this subsection to carry out pilot programs 

8 using such tools, the development of test cases using 

9 such tools, and research related to such tools. 

10 (4) PREFERENCES.—In making grants under 

11 this subsection, the Secretary shall give preference 

12 to— 

13 (A) technology that is nonproprietary or 

14 that is community commons-based; 

15 (B) computer code that is developed and 

16 released on an open source basis; 

17 (C) tools that are proactive (such as meet18 ing regulatory requirements under ‘‘know your 

19 customer’’ and anti-money laundering require20 ments for any entity that has to comply with 

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

22 as aiding law enforcement organizations in 

23 catching illegal activity after the fact); and 

24 (D) tools and incentives that are on decen25 tralized platforms. 


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1 (5) OTHER REQUIREMENTS.— 

2 (A) USE OF EXISTING GLOBAL STAND3 ARDS.—Any new technology developed with a 

4 grant made under this subsection shall be based 

5 on existing global standards, such as those de6 veloped by the Internet Engineering Task Force 

7 (IETF) and the World Wide Web Consortium 

8 (W3C). 

9 (B) SUPPORTING EXISTING LAWS OR REG10 ULATIONS.—Tools and programs developed with 

11 a grant made under this subsection shall be in 

12 support of existing laws or regulations, includ13 ing the Bank Secrecy Act, and make efforts to 

14 balance privacy and anti-money laundering con15 cerns. 

16 (C) OPEN ACCESS REQUIREMENT.—Tools 

17 and programs developed with a grant made 

18 under this subsection shall be freely accessible 

19 and usable by the public. This requirement may 

20 be fulfilled by publicly availing application pro21 gramming interfaces or software development 

22 kits. 

23 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

24 For purposes of this Act: 


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1 (1) BANK SECRECY ACT.—The term ‘‘Bank Se2 crecy Act’’ means— 

3 (A) section 21 of the Federal Deposit In4 surance Act; 

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

6 508; and 

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

8 United States Code. 

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

10 currency’’— 

11 (A) means a digital representation of value 

12 that— 

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

14 unit of account, or store of value; and 

15 (ii) is not established legal tender, 

16 whether or not denominated in established 

17 legal tender; and 

18 (B) does not include— 

19 (i) a transaction in which a merchant 

20 grants, as part of an affinity or rewards 

21 program, value that cannot be taken from 

22 or exchanged with the merchant for legal 

23 tender, bank credit, or digital currency; or 

24 (ii) a digital representation of value 

25 issued by or on behalf of a publisher and 


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1 used solely within an online game, game 

2 platform, or family of games sold by the 

3 same publisher or offered on the same 

4 game platform. 

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

6 a person carrying out domestic terrorism or inter7 national terrorism (as such terms are defined, re8 spectively, under section 2331 of title 18, United 

9 States Code). 

Passed the House of Representatives September 26, 

2018. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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