Top federal agencies in the United States are teaming up to revise the meaning of “money” to tighten reporting requirements on financial institutions for domestic and cross-border cryptocurrency transactions.
The US Department of the Treasury issued a semiannual regulatory agenda on Aug. 16, revealing an upcoming federal attempt to level the regulatory playing field for cryptocurrencies and traditional fiat currency.
A snippet of the semiannual regulatory agenda issued by the US Department of Treasury. Source: Federal Register
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network plan to revise the meaning of “money” used in the Bank Secrecy Act.
Treating crypto as money for reporting requirements
According to the agenda:
“The agencies (FRS and FinCEN) intend that the revised proposal will ensure that the rules apply to domestic and cross-border transactions involving convertible virtual currency, which is a medium of exchange (such as cryptocurrency) that either has an equivalent value as currency or acts as a substitute for currency, but lacks legal tender status.”
However, the proposal will also extend the reporting requirement to digital assets with legal tender status, including central bank digital currencies.
The final notice of proposed rulemaking is currently slated for September 2025, subject to clearance.
Related: US gov’t $590M Silk Road Bitcoin transfer to Coinbase unlikely to be sold — Analyst
On Aug. 14, the US government shifted roughly 10,000 Bitcoin (BTC) linked to a dated Silk Road raid.
Transaction information of the US government moving BTC. Source: Arkham Intelligence
In addition to cryptocurrencies, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) is also actively amending regulations and legal mandates for artificial intelligence.
DOJ updates AI guidelines to fight crimes
On Aug. 7, the DOJ asked the US Sentencing Commission to update its guidelines to provide additional penalties for crimes committed with the aid of AI.
The recommendations seek to expand well beyond established guidelines and apply not only to crimes committed with AI but to any crime aided or abetted by simple algorithms.
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