New Bill Calls for the Treasury Department to Submit a Report on Foreign Crypto Usage and Mining

US Senators want the Treasury Department to closely examine cryptocurrency mining and share the findings with Congress. This week, a bill was introduced by Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) that requires the Secretary of the Treasury to submit a report on virtual currencies and global competitiveness to Congress. The report on virtual currency wants the department to cover an assessment on how foreign countries use and mine virtual currencies, including identifying their largest state and private industry users and miners. Policies foreign countries have adopted to encourage crypto's use, and mining and how they could be strengthened or undermined by allowing this within their borders are also included. The bill further asked the Department to identify the types and dollar value of virtual currency mined for each fiscal year from 2016 through 2022 within the US, China, and globally, along with any other countries the Secretary of the Treasury determines are relevant. Furthermore, the report wants to identify vulnerabilities related to supply disruptions and technology availability of the global microelectronic supply chain and opportunities in regard to crypto mining operations. With this report, the idea is to increase the global competitiveness of the US, and according to Hassan, crypto is critical in that.

“In order to strengthen U.S. competitiveness, our government must get a better handle on the role that cryptocurrency is playing in the global economy and how it is being leveraged by other countries.”