US senators Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, and Cynthia Lummis, Republican of Wyoming have shared the reformed legislation, entitled the Cryptocurrency Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act. The bill is endorsed by the Electronic Transactions Association, and it would amend the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 to include cryptocurrency firms.
Blackburn has stated that the Cryptocurrency Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act will update existing regulations to address the misuse of cryptocurrency, as it has been used by criminals to hide illegal practices and not be held accountable. The bill will provide a voluntary mechanism for crypto companies to report illicit behaviour and to protect cryptocurrency from dangerous practices.
The bill aims to diminish losses caused by cyber-related incidents, including data breaches, ransomware attacks, business interruption, and network damage. A rise in crypto-related phishing attacks has been reported in the first quarter of 2022, with 290 recorded attacks having taken place, a 170% increase from the 106 in the first quarter, according to a Web3 Security Q2 2022 report by CertiK.
Lummis is known as a supporter of the crypto industry, having sponsored, and proposed new bills with a focus on the industry in the past year. Lummis proposed in June 2022 a bipartisan crypto bill together with senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, its goal being to install guide rails around the digital asset sector. The 69-page bill enclosed a wide range of crypto market subsectors, varying from how crypto transactions are taxed to stablecoin backing guidelines.
With the crypto industry growing continuously, most of the market players and regulators agree on there being a need for transparency and frameworks on how to monitor digital assets.
The US is yet to develop a clear regulatory framework for cryptocurrency, although there are many investors and blockchain firms in the country. Crypto exchanges fall under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) regulatory scope and must register with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), while being required at the same time to comply with anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) obligations. The AML/CFT reporting, and record-keeping obligations have been introduced as part of Biden’s administration infrastructure bill.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) classifies cryptocurrencies as property for federal income tax purposes, stating that the exchange, use, or holding as an investment of virtual currencies has tax consequences that could result in tax liability.
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