(BlockBar) The congressional and Senate Banking committees’ hearings on Facebook’s Libra coin appear to pose a new set of regulatory issues for cryptocurrencies as a whole. On Thursday, Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin promised that the United States would regulate cryptocurrencies with “very, very strict” regulations. “We ‘re going to make sure that bitcoins doesn’t become the equivalent of Swiss – numbered bank accounts, which were obviously a risk to the financial system, “mnuchin told CNBC’s” Squawk Box “in an interview.
He added: ” I want to be careful that anybody who ‘s the using of bitcoins – chopped of what the price is – is using it for the proper purposes and not illicit purposes,” he added. “and there are billions of dollars Transactions going on in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for illicit purposes.”
Mr Mnuchin’s concerns have a degree of credibility, as there are many examples of Swiss Banks offering shadow banking services to clients by offering numbered accounts known only to account holders and a small number of bankers.
Mnuchin was also asked whether the use of bitcoin in illegal transactions disqualifies it as a legal currency, given that dollars are often used by criminals for illegal purposes.
According to Mnuchin ” I don ‘t think that’ s accurate at all, that cash is laundered all the time,” Mnuchin replied. “We combat bad actors in the U.S. dollar every day to protect the U.S. financial system.”
Cryptocurrencies have come under the spotlight this week, as both houses of congress scrutinised Facebook’s Libra. The number of searches for bitcoin on Google is rising, most notably after Congressman Warren Davidson used the term “Shitcoins” at yesterday’s parliamentary Libra hearing.
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