House Passes Bill to Curb Insider Trading

H.R. 56, the Financial Technology Protection Act, would "strengthen and expand efforts to deter terrorist and illicit abuses of financial technology through interagency coordination and research, and through collaboration with private institutions and citizens."

The bill would establish an Independent Financial Technology Task Force to Combat Terrorism and Illicit Financing — which would include members from Treasury, the FBI, among other agencies — to provide rewards for information leading to convictions related to terrorist use of digital currencies.

The bill would also 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.

"As stated in last year's National Money Laundering Risk Assessment from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, many cryptocurrencies are being designed to make virtual currency transactions untraceable and are increasingly being used by bad actors," said Waters in her Monday statements on the House floor.

H.R. 502, the FIND Trafficking Act, introduced by Rep. Juan Vargas, D-Calif., and Rep. Ann Wagner, R-MO, both members of the House Financial Services Committee, orders a study of the illicit uses of virtual currencies and marketplaces in drug trafficking and sex trafficking.