A Crypto Industry Poison Pill Hidden in the America COMPETES Act?

It’s not the first time an expansion of the Bank Secrecy Act has made its way into an unrelated bill.

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This episode is sponsored by Nexo, Abra and FTX US.

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Today on “The Breakdown,” NLW looks at a topic that has seized the attention of the crypto policy community. Hidden in the America COMPETES Act is a change to the Bank Secrecy Act that would allow the secretary of the treasury to compel financial institutions to conduct extraordinary surveillance or even prohibit financial activity entirely on accounts they suspect of money laundering without any public notice or checks and balances. NLW breaks down the proposed change, the response and what it says about the state of the crypto lobby.

“The Breakdown” is written, produced by and features Nathaniel Whittemore aka NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell, research by Scott Hill and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsor is “Time” by OBOY. Image credit: Sergei Chuyko/iStock/Getty Images Plus, modified by CoinDesk. Join the discussion at discord.gg/VrKRrfKCz8.

HOST

Nathaniel Whittemore

NLW is an independent strategy and communications consultant for leading crypto companies as well as host of The Breakdown – the fastest-growing podcast in crypto. Whittemore has been a VC with Learn Capital, was on the founding team of Change.org, and founded a program design center at his alma mater Northwestern University that helped inspire the largest donation in the school’s history.