IB 

Union Calendar No. 769 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5036 

[Report No. 115–984] 

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 15, 2018 

Mr. BUDD (for himself and Mr. LYNCH) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

SEPTEMBER 26, 2018 

Additional sponsor: Ms. SINEMA

SEPTEMBER 26, 2018 

Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee of the Whole House 

on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on February 15, 2018] 


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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 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 Government 

8 should prioritize the investigation of terrorist and illicit use 

9 of new financial technology, including digital currencies. 

10 SEC. 3. INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY TASK 

11 FORCE TO COMBAT TERRORISM AND ILLICIT 

12 FINANCING. 

13 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the Inde14 pendent Financial Technology Task Force to Combat Ter15 rorism and Illicit Financing (the ‘‘Task Force’’), which 

16 shall consist of— 

17 (1) the Secretary of the Treasury, who shall serve 

18 as the head of the Task Force; 

19 (2) the Attorney General; 

20 (3) the Director of National Intelligence; 

21 (4) the Director of the Financial Crimes En22 forcement Network; 

23 (5) the Director of the Secret Service; 

24 (6) the Director of the Federal Bureau of Inves25 tigation; and 


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1 (7) 6 individuals appointed by the Secretary of 

2 the Treasury, in consultation with the members of the 

3 Task Force described under paragraphs (2) through 

4 (6), to represent the private sector (including the 

5 banking industry, nonprofit groups, and think tanks), 

6 with at least 2 of such individuals having experience 

7 in the Fintech industry. 

8 (b) DUTIES.—The Task Force shall— 

9 (1) conduct independent research on terrorist 

10 and illicit use of new financial technologies, including 

11 digital currencies; and 

12 (2) develop legislative and regulatory proposals 

13 to improve counter-terrorist and counter-illicit fi14 nancing efforts. 

15 (c) ANNUAL CONGRESSIONAL REPORT.—Not later than 

16 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annu17 ally thereafter, the Task Force shall issue a report to the 

18 Congress containing the findings and determinations made 

19 by the Task Force in the previous year and any legislative 

20 and regulatory proposals developed by the Task Force. 

21 SEC. 4. REWARDS FOR INFORMATION RELATED TO TER22 RORIST USE OF DIGITAL CURRENCIES. 

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

24 consultation with the Attorney General, shall establish a 

25 fund to pay a reward, not to exceed $450,000, to any person 


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1 who provides information leading to the conviction of an 

2 individual involved with terrorist use of digital currencies. 

3 (b) USE OF FINES AND FORFEITURES.—With respect 

4 to fines and forfeitures related to the conviction of an indi5 vidual involved with terrorist use of digital currencies, the 

6 Secretary of the Treasury shall, without further appropria7 tion or fiscal year limitation— 

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

9 section related to such conviction; and 

10 (2) with respect to any such amounts remaining 

11 after payments are made under paragraphs (1) and 

12 (2), deposit such amounts in the FinTech Leadership 

13 in Innovation and Financial Intelligence Program. 

14 SEC. 5. FINTECH LEADERSHIP IN INNOVATION AND FINAN15 CIAL INTELLIGENCE PROGRAM. 

16 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a program 

17 to be known as the ‘‘Fintech Leadership in Innovation and 

18 Financial Intelligence Program’’, which shall be funded as 

19 provided under section 4(b)(2). 

20 (b) INNOVATION GRANTS.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treasury 

22 shall make grants for the development of tools and 

23 programs to detect terrorist and illicit use of digital 

24 currencies. 


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1 (2) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENTS.—The Secretary may 

2 make grants under this subsection to entities located 

3 in the United States, including academic institutions, 

4 companies, nonprofit institutions, individuals, and 

5 any other entities locating in the United States that 

6 the Secretary determines appropriate. 

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

8 and programs described under paragraph (1), in ad9 dition to grants for the development of such tools and 

10 programs, the Secretary may make grants under this 

11 subsection to carry out pilot programs using such 

12 tools, the development of test cases using such tools, 

13 and research related to such tools. 

14 (4) PREFERENCES.—In making grants under 

15 this subsection, the Secretary shall give preference 

16 to— 

17 (A) technology that is nonproprietary or 

18 that is community commons-based; 

19 (B) computer code that is developed and re20 leased on an open source basis; 

21 (C) tools that are proactive (such as meet22 ing regulatory requirements under ‘‘know your 

23 customer’’ and anti-money laundering require24 ments for any entity that has to comply with 

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


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1 as aiding law enforcement organizations in 

2 catching illegal activity after the fact); and 

3 (D) tools and incentives that are on decen4 tralized platforms. 

5 (5) OTHER REQUIREMENTS.— 

6 (A) USE OF EXISTING GLOBAL STAND7 ARDS.—Any new technology developed with a 

8 grant made under this subsection shall be based 

9 on existing global standards, such as those devel10 oped by the Internet Engineering Task Force 

11 (IETF) and the World Wide Web Consortium 

12 (W3C). 

13 (B) SUPPORTING EXISTING LAWS OR REGU14 LATIONS.—Tools and programs developed with a 

15 grant made under this subsection shall be in 

16 support of existing laws or regulations, including 

17 the Bank Secrecy Act, and make efforts to bal18 ance privacy and anti-money laundering con19 cerns. 

20 (C) OPEN ACCESS REQUIREMENT.—Tools 

21 and programs developed with a grant made 

22 under this subsection shall be freely accessible 

23 and usable by the public. This requirement may 

24 be fulfilled by publicly availing application proVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:23 Sep 26, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H5036.RH H5036

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1 gramming interfaces or software development 

2 kits. 

3 SEC. 6. PREVENTING ROGUE AND FOREIGN ACTORS FROM 

4 EVADING SANCTIONS. 

5 (a) REPORT AND STRATEGY WITH RESPECT TO DIG6 ITAL CURRENCIES AND OTHER RELATED EMERGING TECH7 NOLOGIES.— 

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

9 the date of the enactment of this Act, the President, 

10 acting through the Secretary of Treasury and in con11 sultation with the Attorney General, the Secretary of 

12 State, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Direc13 tor of National Intelligence, the Director of the Office 

14 of Management and Budget, and the appropriate Fed15 eral banking agencies and Federal functional regu16 lators, shall— 

17 (A) submit to the appropriate congressional 

18 committees a report that identifies and describes 

19 the potential uses of digital currencies and other 

20 related emerging technologies by states, non-state 

21 actors, and foreign terrorist organizations to 

22 evade sanctions, finance terrorism, or launder 

23 monetary instruments, and threaten United 

24 States national security; and 


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1 (B) develop and submit to the appropriate 

2 congressional committees a strategy to mitigate 

3 and prevent such illicit use of digital currencies 

4 and other related emerging technologies. 

5 (2) FORM; PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.— 

6 (A) FORM.—The report and strategy re7 quired under paragraph (1) shall be submitted 

8 in unclassified form, but may contain a classi9 fied annex. 

10 (B) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The unclassi11 fied portion of such report and strategy shall be 

12 made available to the public and posted on the 

13 internet website of the Department of Treas14 ury— 

15 (i) in pre-compressed, easily 

16 downloadable versions that are made avail17 able in all appropriate formats; and 

18 (ii) in machine-readable format, if ap19 plicable. 

20 (3) SOURCES OF INFORMATION.—In preparing 

21 the report and strategy required under paragraph (1), 

22 the President may utilize any credible publication, 

23 database, web-based resource, and any credible infor24 mation compiled by any government agency, nonVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:23 Sep 26, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H5036.RH H5036

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1 governmental organization, or other entity that is 

2 made available to the President. 

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

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

5 shall brief the appropriate congressional committees on the 

6 implementation of the strategy required under subsection 

7 (a). 

8 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

9 For purposes of this Act: 

10 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT11 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional commit12 tees’’ means— 

13 (A) the Committee on Financial Services, 

14 the Committee on the Judiciary, the Permanent 

15 Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Com16 mittee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Rep17 resentatives; and 

18 (B) the Committee on Banking, Housing, 

19 and Urban Affairs, the Committee on Homeland 

20 Security and Governmental Affairs, the Com21 mittee on the Judiciary, the Select Committee on 

22 Intelligence, and the Committee on Foreign Rela23 tions of the Senate. 

24 (2) APPROPRIATE FEDERAL BANKING AGEN25 CIES.—The term ‘‘appropriate Federal banking agenVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:23 Sep 26, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H5036.RH H5036

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1 cies’’ has the meaning given the term in section 3 of 

2 the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813). 

3 (3) BANK SECRECY ACT.—The term ‘‘Bank Se4 crecy Act’’ means— 

5 (A) section 21 of the Federal Deposit Insur6 ance Act; 

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

8 508; and 

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

10 United States Code. 

11 (4) DIGITAL CURRENCY.—The term ‘‘digital cur12 rency’’— 

13 (A) means a digital representation of value 

14 that— 

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

16 unit of account, or store of value; and 

17 (ii) is not established legal tender, 

18 whether or not denominated in established 

19 legal tender; and 

20 (B) does not include— 

21 (i) a transaction in which a merchant 

22 grants, as part of an affinity or rewards 

23 program, value that cannot be taken from 

24 or exchanged with the merchant for legal 

25 tender, bank credit, or digital currency; or 


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1 (ii) a digital representation of value 

2 issued by or on behalf of a publisher and 

3 used solely within an online game, game 

4 platform, or family of games sold by the 

5 same publisher or offered on the same game 

6 platform. 

7 (5) FEDERAL FUNCTIONAL REGULATOR.—The 

8 term ‘‘Federal functional regulator’’ has the meaning 

9 given that term in section 509 of the Gramm-Leach10 Bliley Act (15 U.S.C. 6809). 

11 (6) FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION.—The 

12 term ‘‘foreign terrorist organization’’ means an orga13 nization that is designated as a foreign terrorist orga14 nization under section 219 of the Immigration and 

15 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189). 

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

17 a person carrying out domestic terrorism or inter18 national terrorism (as such terms are defined, respec19 tively, under section 2331 of title 18, United States 

20 Code). 

Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘A bill 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 proVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:23 Sep 26, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5036.RH H5036

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grams to combat terrorist and illicit use of digital currencies, and for other purposes.’’. 


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Union Calendar No. 769 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5036 

[Report No. 115–984] 

A BILL 

To establish an Independent Financial Technology 

other purposes. rorist and illicit use of digital currencies, and for velopment of tools and programs to combat tership in Innovation Program to encourage the dedigital currencies, to establish a FinTech Leaderleading to convictions related to terrorist use of Task Force, to provide rewards for information 

SEPTEMBER 26, 2018 

Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee 

dered to be printed of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and orVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:23 Sep 26, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\H5036.RH H5036

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