I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 296 

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 13, 2021 

Mr. BUDD (for himself, Mr. DAVIDSON, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. DONALDS, and Mr. 

SOTO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on the Budget, 

for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 

for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 

committee concerned 

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 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, 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 296 IH

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 TO COMBAT TERRORISM AND ILLICIT 

11 FINANCING. 

12 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the Inde13 pendent Financial Technology Task Force to Combat Ter14 rorism and Illicit Financing (the ‘‘Task Force’’), which 

15 shall consist of— 

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

17 serve as the head of the Task Force; 

18 (2) the Attorney General; 

19 (3) the Director of National Intelligence; 

20 (4) the Director of the Financial Crimes En21 forcement Network; 

22 (5) the Director of the Secret Service; 

23 (6) the Director of the Federal Bureau of In24 vestigation; and 

25 (7) 6 individuals appointed by the Secretary of 

26 the Treasury, in consultation with the members of 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 296 IH

1 the Task Force described under paragraphs (2) 

2 through (6), to represent the private sector (includ3 ing the banking industry, nonprofit groups, and 

4 think tanks), with at least two of such individuals 

5 having experience in the Fintech industry. 

6 (b) DUTIES.—The Task Force shall— 

7 (1) conduct independent research on terrorist 

8 and illicit use of new financial technologies, includ9 ing digital currencies; and 

10 (2) develop legislative and regulatory proposals 

11 to improve counter-terrorist and counter-illicit fi12 nancing efforts. 

13 (c) ANNUAL CONGRESSIONAL REPORT.—Not later 

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

15 and annually thereafter, the Task Force shall issue a re16 port to the Congress containing the findings and deter17 minations made by the Task Force in the previous year 

18 and any legislative and regulatory proposals developed by 

19 the Task Force. 

20 SEC. 4. REWARDS FOR INFORMATION RELATED TO TER21 RORIST USE OF DIGITAL CURRENCIES. 

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

23 consultation with the Attorney General, shall establish a 

24 fund to pay a reward, not to exceed $450,000, to any per25 son who provides information leading to the conviction of 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 296 IH

1 an individual involved with terrorist use of digital cur2 rencies. 

3 (b) 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, subject to the 

7 availability of appropriations made in advance— 

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 paragraph (1), de12 posit such amounts in the Fintech Leadership in In13 novation and Financial Intelligence Program. 

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

16 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a pro17 gram to be known as the ‘‘Fintech Leadership in Innova18 tion and Financial Intelligence Program’’, which shall be 

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

20 (b) INNOVATION GRANTS.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treas22 ury shall make grants for the development of tools 

23 and programs to detect terrorist and illicit use of 

24 digital currencies. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 296 IH

1 (2) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENTS.—The Secretary may 

2 make grants under this subsection to entities located 

3 in the United States, including academic institu4 tions, companies, nonprofit institutions, individuals, 

5 and any other entities located in the United States 

6 that 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 

10 and programs, the Secretary may make grants 

11 under this subsection to carry out pilot programs 

12 using such tools, the development of test cases using 

13 such tools, 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 

20 released 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 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 296 IH

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 de10 veloped by the Internet Engineering Task Force 

11 (IETF) and the World Wide Web Consortium 

12 (W3C). 

13 (B) SUPPORTING EXISTING LAWS OR REG14 ULATIONS.—Tools and programs developed with 

15 a grant made under this subsection shall be in 

16 support of existing laws or regulations, includ17 ing the Bank Secrecy Act, and make efforts to 

18 balance 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 05:16 Feb 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H296.IH H296

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 296 IH

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

7 TECHNOLOGIES.— 

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

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

10 President, acting through the Secretary of Treasury 

11 and in consultation with the Attorney General, the 

12 Secretary of State, the Secretary of Homeland Secu13 rity, the Director of National Intelligence, the Direc14 tor of the Office of Management and Budget, and 

15 the appropriate Federal banking agencies and Fed16 eral functional regulators, shall— 

17 (A) submit to the appropriate congres18 sional committees a report that identifies and 

19 describes the potential uses of digital currencies 

20 and other related emerging technologies by 

21 states, non-state actors, and foreign terrorist 

22 organizations to evade sanctions, finance ter23 rorism, or launder monetary instruments, and 

24 threaten United States national security; and 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 296 IH

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 down16 loadable versions that are made available 

17 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 

22 (1), the President may utilize any credible publica23 tion, database, web-based resource, and any credible 

24 information compiled by any government agency, 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
9 

•HR 296 IH

1 nongovernmental organization, or other entity that 

2 is 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 

6 the implementation of the strategy required under sub7 section (a). 

8 SEC. 7. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 

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

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

11 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 

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

13 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 

14 by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, pro15 vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 

16 vote on passage. 

17 SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS. 

18 For purposes of this Act: 

19 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT20 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com21 mittees’’ means— 

22 (A) the Committee on Financial Services, 

23 the Committee on the Judiciary, the Permanent 

24 Select Committee on Intelligence, and the ComVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:16 Feb 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H296.IH H296

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
10 

•HR 296 IH

1 mittee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Rep2 resentatives; and 

3 (B) the Committee on Banking, Housing, 

4 and Urban Affairs, the Committee on Home5 land Security and Governmental Affairs, the 

6 Committee on the Judiciary, the Select Com7 mittee on Intelligence, and the Committee on 

8 Foreign Relations of the Senate. 

9 (2) APPROPRIATE FEDERAL BANKING AGEN10 CIES.—The term ‘‘appropriate Federal banking 

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

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

13 1813). 

14 (3) BANK SECRECY ACT.—The term ‘‘Bank Se15 crecy Act’’ means— 

16 (A) section 21 of the Federal Deposit In17 surance Act; 

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

19 508; and 

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

21 United States Code. 

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

23 currency’’— 

24 (A) means a digital representation of value 

25 that— 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
11 

•HR 296 IH

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

2 unit of account, or store of value; and 

3 (ii) is not established legal tender, 

4 whether or not denominated in established 

5 legal tender; and 

6 (B) does not include— 

7 (i) a transaction in which a merchant 

8 grants, as part of an affinity or rewards 

9 program, value that cannot be taken from 

10 or exchanged with the merchant for legal 

11 tender, bank credit, or digital currency; or 

12 (ii) a digital representation of value 

13 issued by or on behalf of a publisher and 

14 used solely within an online game, game 

15 platform, or family of games sold by the 

16 same publisher or offered on the same 

17 game platform. 

18 (5) FEDERAL FUNCTIONAL REGULATOR.—The 

19 term ‘‘Federal functional regulator’’ has the mean20 ing given that term in section 509 of the Gramm21 Leach-Bliley Act (15 U.S.C. 6809). 

22 (6) FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION.—The 

23 term ‘‘foreign terrorist organization’’ means an or24 ganization that is designated as a foreign terrorist 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
12 

•HR 296 IH

1 organization under section 219 of the Immigration 

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

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

4 a person carrying out domestic terrorism or inter5 national terrorism (as such terms are defined, re6 spectively, under section 2331 of title 18, United 

7 States Code). 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS