II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1340 

To establish an Independent Financial Technology Working Group to Combat 

Terrorism and Illicit Financing, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 27, 2023 

Mr. BUDD (for himself and Mrs. GILLIBRAND) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To establish an Independent Financial Technology Working 

Group to Combat Terrorism and Illicit Financing, 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 Protection Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY WORKING 

2 GROUP TO COMBAT TERRORISM AND ILLICIT 

3 FINANCING. 

4 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the Inde5 pendent Financial Technology Working Group to Combat 

6 Terrorism and Illicit Financing (in this section referred 

7 to as the ‘‘Working Group’’), which shall consist of the 

8 following: 

9 (1) The Secretary of the Treasury, acting 

10 through the Under Secretary for Terrorism and Fi11 nancial Intelligence, who shall serve as the chair of 

12 the Working Group. 

13 (2) A senior-level representative from each of 

14 the following: 

15 (A) Each of the following components of 

16 the Department of the Treasury: 

17 (i) The Financial Crimes Enforcement 

18 Network. 

19 (ii) The Internal Revenue Service. 

20 (iii) The Office of Foreign Assets 

21 Control. 

22 (B) The Department of Justice and each 

23 of the following components of the Department: 

24 (i) The Federal Bureau of Investiga25 tion. 


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1 (ii) The Drug Enforcement Adminis2 tration. 

3 (C) The Department of Homeland Security 

4 and the United States Secret Service. 

5 (D) The Department of State. 

6 (E) The Central Intelligence Agency. 

7 (3) Five individuals appointed by the Under 

8 Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence 

9 to represent the following: 

10 (A) Financial technology companies. 

11 (B) Blockchain intelligence companies. 

12 (C) Financial institutions. 

13 (D) Institutions or organizations engaged 

14 in research. 

15 (b) DUTIES.—The Working Group shall— 

16 (1) conduct research on terrorist and illicit use 

17 of new financial technologies, including digital as18 sets; and 

19 (2) develop legislative and regulatory proposals 

20 to improve anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist, 

21 and other counter-illicit financing efforts in the 

22 United States. 

23 (c) REPORTS.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 

25 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and anVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:42 May 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1340.IS S1340

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1 nually for the 3 years thereafter, the Working Group 

2 shall submit to the Secretary of the Treasury, the 

3 heads of each agency represented in the Working 

4 Group pursuant to subsection (a)(2), and the appro5 priate congressional committees a report containing 

6 the findings and determinations made by the Work7 ing Group in the previous year and any legislative 

8 and regulatory proposals developed by the Working 

9 Group. 

10 (2) FINAL REPORT.—Before the date on which 

11 the Working Group terminates under subsection 

12 (e)(1), the Working Group shall submit to the ap13 propriate congressional committees a final report de14 tailing the findings, recommendations, and activities 

15 of the Working Group. 

16 (d) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—Members of the Working 

17 Group shall serve without pay, but shall receive travel ex18 penses in accordance with sections 5702 and 5703 of title 

19 5, United States Code. 

20 (e) SUNSET.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Working Group shall, 

22 subject to paragraph (3), terminate on the date that 

23 is 4 years after the date of the enactment of this 

24 Act. 


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1 (2) EXPIRATION AND RETURN OF APPRO2 PRIATED FUNDS.—On the date on which the Work3 ing Group terminates under paragraph (1)— 

4 (A) all authorities granted to the Working 

5 Group under this section shall expire, subject to 

6 paragraph (3); and 

7 (B) any funds appropriated for the Work8 ing Group that are available for obligation as of 

9 that date shall be returned to the Treasury. 

10 (3) AUTHORITY TO WIND UP ACTIVITIES.—The 

11 termination of the Working Group under paragraph 

12 (1) and the expiration of authorities under para13 graph (2) shall not affect any investigations, re14 search, or other activities of the Working Group on15 going as of the date on which the Working Group 

16 terminates under paragraph (1). Such investigations, 

17 research, and activities may continue until their 

18 completion. 

19 SEC. 3. PREVENTING ROGUE AND FOREIGN ACTORS FROM 

20 EVADING SANCTIONS. 

21 (a) REPORT AND STRATEGY WITH RESPECT TO DIG22 ITAL ASSETS AND OTHER RELATED EMERGING TECH23 NOLOGIES.— 

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

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


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1 President, acting through the Secretary of the 

2 Treasury and in consultation with the head of each 

3 agency represented on the Independent Financial 

4 Technology Working Group to Combat Terrorism 

5 and Illicit Financing pursuant to section 2(a)(2), 

6 shall submit to the appropriate congressional com7 mittees a report that describes— 

8 (A) the potential uses of digital assets and 

9 other related emerging technologies by states, 

10 non-state actors, foreign terrorist organizations, 

11 and other terrorist groups to evade sanctions, 

12 finance terrorism, or launder monetary instru13 ments, and threaten United States national se14 curity; and 

15 (B) a strategy how the United States will 

16 mitigate and prevent the illicit use of digital as17 sets and other related emerging technologies. 

18 (2) FORM OF REPORT; PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.— 

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—The report required by 

20 paragraph (1) shall be submitted in unclassified 

21 form, but may include a classified annex. 

22 (B) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The unclassi23 fied portion of each report required by para24 graph (1) shall be made available to the public 


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1 and posted on a publicly accessible website of 

2 the Department of the Treasury— 

3 (i) in precompressed, easily 

4 downloadable versions, in all appropriate 

5 formats; and 

6 (ii) in machine-readable format, if ap7 plicable. 

8 (3) SOURCES OF INFORMATION.—In preparing 

9 the reports required by paragraph (1), the President 

10 may utilize any credible publication, database, or 

11 web-based resource, and any credible information 

12 compiled by any government agency, nongovern13 mental organization, or other entity that is made 

14 available to the President. 

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

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

17 shall brief the appropriate congressional committees on 

18 the implementation of the strategy required by subsection 

19 (a)(2). 

20 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

21 In this Act: 

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


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1 (A) the Committee on Banking, Housing, 

2 and Urban Affairs, the Committee on Finance, 

3 the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Com4 mittee on Homeland Security and Govern5 mental Affairs, the Committee on the Judiciary, 

6 and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the 

7 Senate; and 

8 (B) the Committee on Financial Services, 

9 the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Com10 mittee on Homeland Security, the Committee 

11 on the Judiciary, the Committee on Way and 

12 Means, and the Permanent Select Committee 

13 on Intelligence of the House of Representatives. 

14 (2) BLOCKCHAIN INTELLIGENCE COMPANY.— 

15 The term ‘‘blockchain intelligence company’’ means 

16 any business providing software, research, or other 

17 services (such as blockchain tracing tools, 

18 geofencing, transaction screening, the collection of 

19 business data, and sanctions screening) that— 

20 (A) support private and public sector in21 vestigations and risk management activities; 

22 and 

23 (B) involve cryptographically secured dis24 tributed ledgers or any similar technology or 

25 implementation. 


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1 (3) DIGITAL ASSET.—The term ‘‘digital asset’’ 

2 means any digital representation of value that is re3 corded on a cryptographically secured digital ledger 

4 or any similar technology. 

5 (4) FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION.—The 

6 term ‘‘foreign terrorist organization’’ means an or7 ganization that is designated as a foreign terrorist 

8 organization under section 219 of the Immigration 

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

10 (5) ILLICIT USE.—The term ‘‘illicit use’’ in11 cludes fraud, darknet marketplace transactions, 

12 money laundering, the purchase and sale of illicit 

13 goods, sanctions evasion, theft of funds, funding of 

14 illegal activities, transactions related to child sexual 

15 abuse material, and any other financial transaction 

16 involving the proceeds of specified unlawful activity 

17 (as defined in section 1956(c) of title 18, United 

18 States Code). 

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

20 a person carrying out domestic terrorism or inter21 national terrorism (as such terms are defined, re22 spectively, under section 2331 of title 18, United 

23 States Code). 

Æ 


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