I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 56 
To establish an Independent Financial Technology Task Force to Combat 
Terrorism and Illicit Financing, to provide rewards for information lead-
ing 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 3, 2019 
Mr. BUDD (for himself and Mr. LYNCH) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 
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 Intel-
ligence Program to encourage the development of tools 
and programs to combat terrorist and illicit use of digital 
currencies, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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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 Govern-
ment 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 In-
vestigation; and 
(7) 6 individuals appointed by the Secretary of 
the Treasury, in consultation with the members of 
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the Task Force described under paragraphs (2) 
through (6), to represent the private sector (includ-
ing the banking industry, nonprofit groups, and 
think tanks), with at least 2 of such individuals hav-
ing experience in the Fintech industry. 
(b) DUTIES.—The Task Force shall— 
(1) conduct independent research on terrorist 
and illicit use of new financial technologies, includ-
ing 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 annually thereafter, the Task Force shall issue a re-
port to the Congress containing the findings and deter-
minations 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 per-
son who provides information leading to the conviction of 
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an individual involved with terrorist use of digital cur-
rencies. 
(b) USE OF FINES AND FORFEITURES.—With re-
spect to fines and forfeitures related to the conviction of 
an individual involved with terrorist use of digital cur-
rencies, the Secretary of the Treasury shall, without fur-
ther appropriation 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 pro-
gram to be known as the ‘‘Fintech Leadership in Innova-
tion 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 Treas-
ury 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 institu-
tions, companies, nonprofit institutions, individuals, 
and any other entities located 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 
released 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 de-
veloped by the Internet Engineering Task Force 
(IETF) and the World Wide Web Consortium 
(W3C). 
(B) SUPPORTING EXISTING LAWS OR REG-
ULATIONS.—Tools and programs developed with 
a grant made under this subsection shall be in 
support of existing laws or regulations, includ-
ing the Bank Secrecy Act, and make efforts to 
balance 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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