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 Pro-
gram to encourage the development of tools and pro-
grams to combat terrorist and illicit use of digital cur-
rencies, and for other purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Financial Technology 
Protection Act’’. 
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that the Federal Government 
should prioritize the investigation of terrorist and illicit use 
of new financial technology, including digital currencies. 
SEC. 3. INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY TASK 
FORCE TO COMBAT TERRORISM AND ILLICIT 
FINANCING. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the Inde-
pendent Financial Technology Task Force to Combat Ter-
rorism and Illicit Financing (the ‘‘Task Force’’), which 
shall consist of— 
(1) the Secretary of the Treasury, who shall serve 
as the head of the Task Force; 
(2) the Attorney General; 
(3) the Director of National Intelligence; 
(4) the Director of the Financial Crimes En-
forcement Network; 
(5) the Director of the Secret Service; 
(6) the Director of the Federal Bureau of Inves-
tigation; and 
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(7) 6 individuals appointed by the Secretary of 
the Treasury, in consultation with the members of the 
Task Force described under paragraphs (2) through 
(6), to represent the private sector (including the 
banking industry, nonprofit groups, and think tanks), 
with at least 2 of such individuals having experience 
in the Fintech industry. 
(b) DUTIES.—The Task Force shall— 
(1) conduct independent research on terrorist 
and illicit use of new financial technologies, including 
digital currencies; and 
(2) develop legislative and regulatory proposals 
to improve counter-terrorist and counter-illicit fi-
nancing efforts. 
(c) ANNUAL CONGRESSIONAL REPORT.—Not later than 
1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annu-
ally thereafter, the Task Force shall issue a report to the 
Congress containing the findings and determinations made 
by the Task Force in the previous year and any legislative 
and regulatory proposals developed by the Task Force. 
SEC. 4. REWARDS FOR INFORMATION RELATED TO TER-
RORIST USE OF DIGITAL CURRENCIES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treasury, in 
consultation with the Attorney General, shall establish a 
fund to pay a reward, not to exceed $450,000, to any person 
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who provides information leading to the conviction of an 
individual involved with terrorist use of digital currencies. 
(b) USE OF FINES AND FORFEITURES.—With respect 
to fines and forfeitures related to the conviction of an indi-
vidual involved with terrorist use of digital currencies, the 
Secretary of the Treasury shall, without further appropria-
tion or fiscal year limitation— 
(1) use such amounts to pay rewards under this 
section related to such conviction; and 
(2) with respect to any such amounts remaining 
after payments are made under paragraphs (1) and 
(2), deposit such amounts in the FinTech Leadership 
in Innovation and Financial Intelligence Program. 
SEC. 5. FINTECH LEADERSHIP IN INNOVATION AND FINAN-
CIAL INTELLIGENCE PROGRAM. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a program 
to be known as the ‘‘Fintech Leadership in Innovation and 
Financial Intelligence Program’’, which shall be funded as 
provided under section 4(b)(2). 
(b) INNOVATION GRANTS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treasury 
shall make grants for the development of tools and 
programs to detect terrorist and illicit use of digital 
currencies. 
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(2) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENTS.—The Secretary may 
make grants under this subsection to entities located 
in the United States, including academic institutions, 
companies, nonprofit institutions, individuals, and 
any other entities locating in the United States that 
the Secretary determines appropriate. 
(3) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.—With respect to tools 
and programs described under paragraph (1), in ad-
dition to grants for the development of such tools and 
programs, the Secretary may make grants under this 
subsection to carry out pilot programs using such 
tools, the development of test cases using such tools, 
and research related to such tools. 
(4) PREFERENCES.—In making grants under 
this subsection, the Secretary shall give preference 
to— 
(A) technology that is nonproprietary or 
that is community commons-based; 
(B) computer code that is developed and re-
leased on an open source basis; 
(C) tools that are proactive (such as meet-
ing regulatory requirements under ‘‘know your 
customer’’ and anti-money laundering require-
ments for any entity that has to comply with 
U.S. Government regulations) vs. reactive (such 
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as aiding law enforcement organizations in 
catching illegal activity after the fact); and 
(D) tools and incentives that are on decen-
tralized platforms. 
(5) OTHER REQUIREMENTS.— 
(A) USE
OF
EXISTING
GLOBAL
STAND-
ARDS.—Any new technology developed with a 
grant made under this subsection shall be based 
on existing global standards, such as those devel-
oped by the Internet Engineering Task Force 
(IETF) and the World Wide Web Consortium 
(W3C). 
(B) SUPPORTING EXISTING LAWS OR REGU-
LATIONS.—Tools and programs developed with a 
grant made under this subsection shall be in 
support of existing laws or regulations, including 
the Bank Secrecy Act, and make efforts to bal-
ance privacy and anti-money laundering con-
cerns. 
(C) OPEN
ACCESS
REQUIREMENT.—Tools 
and programs developed with a grant made 
under this subsection shall be freely accessible 
and usable by the public. This requirement may 
be fulfilled by publicly availing application pro-
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gramming interfaces or software development 
kits. 
SEC. 6. PREVENTING ROGUE AND FOREIGN ACTORS FROM 
EVADING SANCTIONS. 
(a) REPORT AND STRATEGY WITH RESPECT TO DIG-
ITAL CURRENCIES AND OTHER RELATED EMERGING TECH-
NOLOGIES.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the President, 
acting through the Secretary of Treasury and in con-
sultation with the Attorney General, the Secretary of 
State, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Direc-
tor of National Intelligence, the Director of the Office 
of Management and Budget, and the appropriate Fed-
eral banking agencies and Federal functional regu-
lators, shall— 
(A) submit to the appropriate congressional 
committees a report that identifies and describes 
the potential uses of digital currencies and other 
related emerging technologies by states, non-state 
actors, and foreign terrorist organizations to 
evade sanctions, finance terrorism, or launder 
monetary instruments, and threaten United 
States national security; and 
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(B) develop and submit to the appropriate 
congressional committees a strategy to mitigate 
and prevent such illicit use of digital currencies 
and other related emerging technologies. 
(2) FORM; PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.— 
(A) FORM.—The report and strategy re-
quired under paragraph (1) shall be submitted 
in unclassified form, but may contain a classi-
fied annex. 
(B) PUBLIC
AVAILABILITY.—The unclassi-
fied portion of such report and strategy shall be 
made available to the public and posted on the 
internet website of the Department of Treas-
ury— 
(i) 
in 
pre-compressed, 
easily 
downloadable versions that are made avail-
able in all appropriate formats; and 
(ii) in machine-readable format, if ap-
plicable. 
(3) SOURCES OF INFORMATION.—In preparing 
the report and strategy required under paragraph (1), 
the President may utilize any credible publication, 
database, web-based resource, and any credible infor-
mation compiled by any government agency, non-
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