Financial Technology Protection Act

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend, the ranking member, for yielding, and I want to start by congratulating him on his new role on the Financial Services Committee. Certainly, he makes our home State, the Old North State, proud.

I also want to congratulate the new chair on her position as chair of our committee, and I look forward to working with her in a bipartisan fashion whenever I can.

I also have to thank my colead on H.R. 56, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch), for his leadership on illicit financing issues, and this bill in particular. I always enjoy teaming up with him, and I value his input and expertise on these issues. I am hopeful we will see some movement on his kleptocracy legislation soon, and I am proud to be coleading that bill with the gentleman.

Today, Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of my bipartisan legislation, the Financial Technology Protection Act. I have said this many times before, but I will say it again because it bears repeating: Illicit financing networks are the linchpin of any terrorist group, criminal organization, or rogue state's operations.

As we move into an increasingly digital and virtual world, criminals and terrorists will start to use new technologies that are available to them. This shouldn't shock anyone. Of course, we all recognize the good that comes with innovation and new technology, but there will always be bad actors as well.

The bottom line is that the Federal Government has to be one step ahead of the illicit actors in this new space without threatening technological innovation, and that is what this bill will do. It will do this by giving the private sector additional tools to protect their new technology, hence the name for the bill, the Financial Technology Protection Act.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 56 is a culmination of months of work with outside groups all over the political spectrum, from national security groups that appreciate the task force to trade and industry groups that appreciate the new tools being given to them that will help them better protect their industry and livelihood.

I think that this bill strikes an impressive balance and is an example of some bipartisan areas that we can work together on in the 116th Congress. Specifically, Mr. Speaker, my legislation will do the following things:

First, and perhaps most importantly, H.R. 56 establishes the Fintech Leadership in Innovation and Financial Intelligence Program, which will be used for grants and rewards in the fintech space for ideas and programs to combat terrorist use of digital currencies. These technologies would be open access and open source. Experts in the private sector can track illicit use of these currencies and perhaps do a better job of leveraging their talent to create tools and programs through the Fintech Leadership and Financial Intelligence Program. We need to give them the ability to try, and that is exactly what this bill does.

Secondly, it establishes the Independent Financial Technology Task Force to Combat Terrorism and Illicit Financing, which will improve coordination and start conversations between the private and public sectors for new ways to combat illicit use. In my view, industry and the Federal Government should be coming together to find best practices and solutions to stop this new terrorist funding threat.

H.R. 56 includes language from H.R. 5227, the Preventing Rogue and Foreign Actors from Evading Sanctions Act, introduced last Congress by my friend, Mark Meadows of North Carolina. This language directs the Treasury Department to develop a strategy that identifies and describes the potential uses of virtual currencies and other related emerging technologies by states and nonstate actors, terrorist organizations to evade sanctions, finance terrorism, or launder monetary instruments and threaten the United States' national security. Again, the development of a national strategy to combat illicit use strikes me as common sense; therefore, we are excited to have it included in the bill and to have Mr. Meadows' support.

Finally, this Budd-Lynch legislation establishes a targeted rewards program for information leading to the capture of terrorists or illicit actors involved with terror digital currency networks. The government should be encouraging individuals with knowledge of illicit use of virtual currencies to come forward through the offerings of rewards for successful convictions.

Here is the bottom line: H.R. 56 is legislation that sparks private- sector innovation to deal with terror and illicit financing when it comes to virtual currencies, which ultimately benefits the underlying technology, the blockchain.

I think that Congress should be promoting programs and technologies that give industry the tools they need to save their technology and industry from illicit use and, hopefully, save them from further negotiation down the road.

I am very excited that this bill is up for a vote in the House today and has such strong bipartisan support.

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of my bipartisan legislation and, once again, thank everyone who has had a hand in bringing this to the floor. It is an exciting day when we can focus on fintech, and I am hopeful for the future of this committee and the 116th Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 56.

First, I would like to thank our chairwoman, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters), for her outstanding leadership in bringing this bill to the floor. I would also like to thank the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. McHenry) for his energetic support as well. In addition, I would like to thank my distinguished colleague, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Budd), a colleague of ours on the Financial Services Committee, for working in a bipartisan fashion with me to get this bill to the floor in a better way to safeguard our emerging financial technology sector against its illicit use by terrorists and their financiers, money launderers, computer hackers, and other criminal actors.

I would also like to point out, as evidenced in the course of our ongoing committee investigation to examine terrorist and money laundering activities, that continued innovations in digital currencies, peer-to-peer financing, mobile payments, and other emerging financial technologies--or in today's lingo, fintech--have been met with increasing efforts by malign actors to exploit these digital platforms and services for terrorist and other criminal purposes. According to the Combating Terrorism Center At West Point: ``Given the interest that terrorist organizations have shown in leveraging digital currencies, their use of such mediums for conducting financial transactions will only increase in the future.''

So the growing reliance on digital currency for terrorist financing recently manifested itself in the U.S. in the form of a complex bank fraud scheme perpetrated by a Long Island woman, Zoobia Shahnaz, who pleaded guilty in November of 2018 to providing material support to a terrorist organization.

In an attempt to raise funds for the Islamic State, Ms. Shahnaz fraudulently obtained credit cards which she used to purchase more than $62,000 in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. After converting the currency to U.S. dollars and transferring the funds to her checking account, she proceeded to execute wire transactions totaling over $150,000 directed to top Islamic State-affiliated individuals and shell entities in Pakistan, China, and Turkey.

The illicit use of digital currency systems has also extended to other criminal enterprises, including cybercrime. According to a six- count indictment returned by a Federal grand jury in Newark, New Jersey, two Iranian nationals engaged in a nearly 3-year international extortion and computer crime scheme involving the deployment of so- called sam sam ransomware against U.S. public and private entities. Acting from inside Iran, these cybercriminals forcibly encrypted the computer systems of more than 200 hospitals, municipalities, and public institutions in the United States, including the city of Atlanta, the city of Newark, and the Colorado Department of Transportation. In exchange for decryption keys, they demanded ransom to be paid in bitcoin. In total, the men collected over $6 million in ransom payments, to date, while causing more than $30 million in losses to their U.S. victims.

Moreover, in July of last year, Special Counsel Bob Mueller indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers stemming from their involvement in cyber attacks against U.S. individuals and entities leading up to the 2016 Presidential election. According to the 11-count indictment, in order to ``facilitate the purchase of infrastructure used in their hacking activity . . . the defendants conspired to launder the equivalent of more than $95,000 through a web of transactions structured to capitalize on the perceived anonymity of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.''

So as we continue to witness and embrace rapid digital innovation in the traditional banking and finance sector, it is urgent that government and industry work together to adopt and deploy regulatory protocols such as blockchain technologies to protect the integrity of digital financial systems against abuse.

To this end, our legislation, the Financial Technology Protection Act, would establish an independent task force consisting of both public and private stakeholders to address the threat of exploitation of new financial technologies by terrorists and other malign actors.

It would also authorize innovative fintech grants to enhance the ability of U.S. companies, academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, and other private-sector entities to develop new tools designed to protect against criminal use of cryptocurrencies and enhance U.S. competitiveness in global financial markets.

Moreover, the bill would authorize a rewards program for individuals who provide information leading to the conviction of those who use digital currency systems for terrorist purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support H.R. 56.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 56) to establish an Independent Financial Technology Task Force to Combat Terrorism and Illicit Financing, to provide rewards for information leading to convictions related to terrorist use of digital currencies, to establish a Fintech Leadership in Innovation and Financial Intelligence Program to encourage the development of tools and programs to combat terrorist and illicit use of digital currencies, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation and to insert extraneous material thereon.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I am so pleased that this body will vote on H.R. 56, the Financial Technology Protection Act, which passed the House in the 115th Congress. This bill would strengthen and expand efforts to deter terrorists and illicit abuses of financial technology through interagency coordination and research through collaboration with private institutions and citizens.

As stated in last year's National Money Laundering Risk Assessment from the United States Department of the Treasury, many cryptocurrencies are being designed to make virtual currency transactions untraceable and are increasingly being used by bad actors.

The talent and technological capabilities to track these transactions must keep up so the government can identify terrorists, hackers, and other criminals who try to hide their activities and proceeds using cryptocurrencies and related exchanges.

This bill would establish a public-private sector task force, a grant program to encourage the development of largely open-source tracking technology, and a whistleblower reward program to counter terrorist uses of digital currencies. Also, it would require the government to examine how state and nonstate actors, including foreign terrorist organizations, use these cryptocurrencies to evade sanctions, finance terrorism, and launder money.

I thank Congressmen Budd and Lynch for reintroducing this bipartisan legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support it, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch), who is a strong leader and a strong voice on the Financial Services Committee and the lead Democratic cosponsor of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman from Massachusetts an additional 1 minute.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the right to close.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Representative Budd and Representative Lynch for the work that they have put forth on this legislation, and I would like to take a moment to thank Mr. Lynch for not only this legislation, but all of the efforts that he has put forth on the Financial Services Committee that have benefited this Congress and our country.

Let me just say that I rise again to encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote for H.R. 56, the Financial Technology Protection Act. This bipartisan bill aims to improve our efforts to deter terrorists and criminal abusers of financial technology, including cryptocurrencies, through its support of interagency coordination and research and through collaboration with private institutions and citizens.

The measure created by this legislation will give the U.S. a better understanding of how bad actors, including terrorists, use cryptocurrencies to evade sanctions, finance terrorism, and launder money. These state and nonstate actors are always looking for new ways to get around our protective and investigative measures, and this bill will help us to stay at least one step ahead.

So, again, my sincere gratitude and thanks to Congressmen Budd and Lynch for reintroducing this bill, which was passed by this body in the last Congress.

I would like to, again, follow up on statements that were made by the ranking member, Mr. McHenry, to remind everyone that the first three bills of this Congress that have been introduced by the Financial Services Committee are bipartisan bills where we have shown that we are willing to provide leadership and send a message to all of the Members of Congress that we have to work hard to try and get good, viable, strong legislation through this Congress, working together in ways that perhaps we have not done before.

I am very pleased and proud to stand here as the chairperson of the Financial Services Committee, helping to make sure that the first three bills that we introduce are bipartisan and urging my support for these bills and this bill now that it is before you.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 56, the Financial Technology Protection Act.

Our number one priority is to ensure the safety of the American people, especially from terrorists and terror organizations seeking to take away the freedoms we hold dear. This bipartisan legislation is a prime example of how we can reach across the aisle and find common ground in the fight against terrorism as well as illicit finance.

H.R. 56 establishes an Independent Financial Technology Task Force, which will improve coordination between the private and public sectors in order to research and develop tools to combat terrorism and the illicit use of financial technologies, including digital currencies.

Recent studies have found evidence that terrorists, especially lone- wolf actors, use digital currencies. A public-private task force as established through this legislation can inform Congress on the legislative and regulatory steps needed to stop these bad actors.

Furthermore, this bipartisan bill would incentivize individuals to come forward with knowledge of possible terrorist and illicit financing involving digital currencies by offering monetary rewards for information that leads to successful convictions. A reward program is just the kind of innovation in policymaking that we need to stay a step ahead of terrorists.

Last Congress, the Treasury Department informed our committee that using such unconventional tools could be critical in generating useful intelligence, and I applaud Mr. Budd and Mr. Lynch for thinking creatively in this process and listening to testimony and taking that and putting that in legislative form.

The threat of illicit use of digital currencies is evolving, and policymakers must work together to find best practices and solutions. That is why this bipartisan bill is so important.

Furthermore, I would add that digital currencies have enormous potential benefits. We want to understand those benefits, but we also want to understand those costs involved, as policymakers. We want to be smart about it. I think it is useful and helpful for us to begin with understanding how we stamp out bad actors and their use of digital currencies before we move into that next set of conversation about how we properly enhance their utility in our society.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank, again, my colleague from Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch) for his work here and my colleague from North Carolina, the great north State, Mr. Budd, first for their relationship on this important policymaking, and also their willingness to work across the aisle in order to get good legislation that is ensuring the safety of the American people.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 56 as a commonsense, forward-looking approach to combating terrorism, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Budd), who is from the great metropolis of Advance in Davie County and who is a leader in fintech.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, three for three--the House Financial Services Committee comes out with the first three bills, and they are bipartisan. I would hope the House would adopt them tonight.

I think this is a great first step in this long road of legislating that I think we can be about in the Financial Services Committee. The chairwoman has shown that will, that interest, that inclination to work together where we can, where we can achieve consensus across the aisle.

I mean that as a compliment. In the politics of today, when you are working across the aisle, it seems as though that is dealt as an insult in some factions.

I know that Chairwoman Waters has worked intently to get to the position of chairing this committee, for a little longer than I have to be the ranking member of the committee; but, as she will show me on opening day of the House Financial Services Committee, she has the gavel and I do not, but where we can work together, I am honored to be able to do so.

I want to thank my colleague, Mr. Budd, for working so intently on financial innovation and on fintech as well as cryptocurrencies, which are of great interest to him, and I appreciate Mr. Lynch being engaged in this subject matter as well.

I look forward to more bipartisan legislating coming out of this committee as well as a number of more interesting activities that I am sure will be a part of this.

I am now informed that we do have one Member to close. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Riggleman), a new Member who has a great deal of experience in national security.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, special thanks to the chair and to the ranking member for their leadership on this. I would also like to thank Representative Budd for sponsoring this bipartisan legislation and thank my colleagues across the aisle, Representatives Lynch and Soto, for their important work on this bill as well.

While I may be new to Congress, I am all too familiar with terrorist threats and the danger they pose to the safety and security of our Nation. I served my country in the Air Force as an intelligence officer and worked to track down terrorists after 9/11. I also supported ``follow the money'' analysis and operations related to terrorist financing.

One of the key components that allows terrorists to organize and execute their missions is financing. As financial technology, or fintech, evolves, so do the opportunities for criminals to take advantage of the financial system.

H.R. 56 calls for financial regulators, law enforcement, and private- sector experts to come together to create the Fintech Task Force to Combat Terrorism and Illicit Finance. This task force is charged with developing innovative methods to track, prevent, and prosecute terrorists that use digital currencies and other financial technologies to advance their agenda.

Technology is integral to everyday life for consumers, businesses, and governments, which is why it is critical that experts from law enforcement and the private sector come together to protect our financial system from terrorists and other bad actors.

Mr. Speaker, for these reasons and many others, I strongly support this bill.