The anonymity behind virtual monies has made them a favorite payment method to carry out illegal actions …Congress must comprehend the entire scope of the virtual monies are being used to facilitate drug and sex trafficking and propose legislative solutions to combat these crimes.
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed on Bill H.R. 6069, known as the “Fight Illicit Networks and Discover Trafficking Act. ”

The bill was considered by the House on Monday, June 25, and “passed ,” based on California Rep. Juan Vargas, the agent who collectively introduced the bill with Rep. Keith Rothfus, declared.

The U.S. House of Representatives has unanimously passed a bill to help prevent the illicit use of cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, dash, zcash, and monero. This bill follows a testimony by the Secret Service asking Congress for help stopping these actions.

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools department.

Whilst acknowledging that “Virtual monies, such as bitcoin, dash, zcash, and monero, may be used for legal buys,” the Committee website noted, “It has also been reported that virtual monies are being used to conduct illegal online marketplaces to market medication, including the opioid fentanyl, and contributing to the opioid crisis in the us. ”

Even the Republican Policy Committee further claims, “based on current reports, most transnational criminal organizations are using virtual monies for illicit activities, such as drug trafficking,” citing the US Drug Enforcement Administration’s 2017 National Drug Assessment.
What do you think of the US authorities ’s efforts to crack down on crypto usage? Let us know in the comments section below.

Based on Rep. Vargas:
After the passage of the invoice, Vargas remarked that “this bill is an important first step in helping Congress understand the complete scope of how virtual monies are being used to facilitate drug and sex trafficking and will help us propose effective legislative solutions to combat these crimes. I am hoping to see exactly the same amount of support for this law in the Senate. ”

Also see: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into your Crypto Space

Regulation

After passage of the bill, Rep. Rothfus published a statement saying, ” & ldquo;Illicit markets where human and drug trafficking take place are continuously evolving, particularly about the dark net …Cryptocurrencies can conceal traffickers’ trades, affording them a level of anonymity when conducting illegal activities. ” He added that “This bipartisan legislation will assist the government introduce new offender techniques to move illicit funds, and provide strategies to prevent them. ”
He called on Congress to ldquo;assist in preventing cryptocurrencies like monero and zcash, which provide users with increased anonymity and privacy characteristics, from being used for illicit purposes,” as news.Bitcoin.com formerly reported.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Wikipedia.

Released at Wed, 27 Jun 2018 21:35:29 +0000

On Tuesday, the Department of Justice declared the arrests of over 35 people selling illicit goods in a nationwide undercover operation targeting darknet vendors. According to the note, “Nearly 2,000 bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies, having an approximate value of over $20 million” were seized.

H.R. 6069 would need the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to perform a research on how digital monies and internet marketplaces are used to purchase, sell, or facilitate the financing of goods or services connected with sex trafficking or drug trafficking. The GAO analysis would also examine how virtual monies may be utilized to detect and deter these illicit pursuits.