"The system of banking we have both equally and ever reprobated. I contemplate it as a blot left in all our constitutions, which, if not covered, will end in their destruction, which is already hit by the gamblers in corruption, and is sweeping away in its progress the fortunes and morals of our citizens. Funding I consider as limited, rightfully, to a redemption of the debt within the lives of a majority of the generation contracting it; every generation coming equally, by the laws of the Creator of the world, to the free possession of the earth he made for their subsistence, unincumbered by their predecessors, who, like them, were but tenants for life… And I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale."
-Thomas Jefferson
S. 1241
To improve the prohibitions on money laundering, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 25, 2017
Mr. Grassley (for himself, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Cornyn, and Mr. Whitehouse) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
Section 13.
SEC. 13. PREPAID ACCESS DEVICES, DIGITAL CURRENCIES, OR OTHER SIMILAR INSTRUMENTS.
(a) In General.—Section 5312(a) of title 31, United States Code, is amended—
(1) in paragraph (2)(K)—
(A) by inserting “prepaid access devices, digital currency,” after “money orders,”; and
(B) by inserting before the semicolon at the end the following: “, or any digital exchanger or tumbler of digital currency”;
(2) in paragraph (3)(B), by inserting “prepaid access devices,” after “delivery,”; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
“(7) ‘prepaid access device’ means an electronic device or vehicle, such as a card, plate, code, number, electronic serial number, mobile identification number, personal identification number, or other instrument, that provides a portal to funds or the value of funds that have been paid in advance and can be retrievable and transferable at some point in the future.”.
(b) GAO Report.—Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to Congress a report on—
(1) the impact the amendments made by subsection (a) have had on law enforcement, the prepaid access industry, and consumers; and
(2) the implementation and enforcement of the final rule entitled “Bank Secrecy Act Regulations—Definitions and Other Regulations Relating to Prepaid Access” (76 Fed. Reg. 45403 (July 19, 2011)) by the Department of the Treasury.
(c) Customs And Border Protection Strategy For Prepaid Access Devices.—Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, shall submit to Congress a report—
(1) detailing a strategy to interdict and detect prepaid access devices, digital currencies, or other similar instruments, at border crossings and other ports of entry for the United States; and
(2) that includes an assessment of infrastructure needed to carry out the strategy detailed in paragraph (1).
THERE IS PLENTY MORE
Look at this bullshit they are passing! If you live outside the US please pay attention to what laws are being passed in your countries. There is a very real attack on the crypt. Every day, regular people are just becoming more and more criminalized. We are living in an age of ever-dwindling freedom. Cryptocurrencies are a threat to the banking systems who farm our labor for power and control. It's not capitalism that is the enemy, it's not democracy or a republic. It is the people in our governments that are controlled to pass laws. Corrupted individuals that are moved by greed and fear. Where do we draw the line? We give up our rights to live life and work hard just to become criminals in the end. This is a very real threat to end the age of a new free market outside of any control, outside of inflation and corruption. Yeah, people buy illegal shit with bitcoins. People buy illegal shit with cash.
If they can't control it, they'll want to destroy it.
Ҥ 5333. Prohibition on concealment of ownership of account
“(a) In General.—No person shall knowingly conceal, falsify, or misrepresent, or attempt to conceal, falsify, or misrepresent, from or to a financial institution, a material fact concerning the ownership or control of an account or assets held in an account with a financial institution.
“(b) Penalties.—A person convicted of an offense under subsection (a), or a conspiracy to commit such offense, shall be imprisoned for not more than 10 years, fined not more than $1,000,000, or both.
“(c) Forfeiture.—
“(1) CRIMINAL FORFEITURE.—
“(A) IN GENERAL.—The court, in imposing penalties under subsection (b), shall order that the defendant forfeit to the United States any property involved in the offense, or a conspiracy to commit such offense, and any property traceable thereto.
“(B) PROCEDURE.—Section 413 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 853) shall govern the seizure, restraint, and forfeiture of property under this paragraph.
“(2) CIVIL FORFEITURE.—
“(A) IN GENERAL.—Any property involved in a violation of subsection (a), or a conspiracy to commit such violation, and any property traceable thereto may be seized and forfeited to the United States.
“(B) PROCEDURE.—Seizures and forfeitures under this paragraph shall be governed by the provisions of chapter 46 of title 18 relating to civil forfeitures, except that such duties, under customs laws described in section 981(d) of title 18, given to the Secretary of the Treasury shall be performed by such officers, agents, and other persons as designated by the Secretary of Homeland Security or the Attorney General.
“(3) TREATMENT OF CERTAIN PROPERTY AS INVOLVED IN THE OFFENSE.—In this subsection, the term ‘property involved in’ includes any assets credited to, attempted to be credited to, or contained in the account.
“(d) Financial Institution.—In this section, the term ‘financial institution’ means any entity defined under section 5312(a)(2), or the regulations promulgated under this title, that is required to—
“(1) implement a customer identification program under this title, or the regulations promulgated under this title; or
“(2) conduct customer due diligence under this title, or the regulations promulgated under this title.”.
(b) Table Of Sections.—The table of sections for subchapter II of chapter 53 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
“5333. Prohibition on concealment of ownership of account.”.
SEC. 19. PROHIBITION ON CONCEALMENT OF THE SOURCE OF ASSETS IN MONETARY TRANSACTIONS.
(a) In General.—Subchapter II of chapter 53 of title 31, United States Code, as amended by section 18 of this Act, is amended by adding at the end the following:
Ҥ 5334. Prohibition on concealment of the source of assets in monetary transactions
“(a) In General.—No person shall knowingly conceal, falsify, or misrepresent, or attempt to conceal, falsify, or misrepresent, from or to a financial institution, a material fact concerning the ownership or control of assets involved in a monetary transaction if—
“(1) the person or entity who owns or controls such assets is a senior foreign political figure, or any immediate family member or close associate of a senior foreign political figure, as set forth in this title or the regulations promulgated under this title; and
“(2) the aggregate value of the assets involved in one or more such transactions is not less than $1,000,000.
“(b) Source Of Funds.—No person shall knowingly conceal, falsify, or misrepresent, or attempt to conceal, falsify, or misrepresent, from or to a financial institution, a material fact concerning the source of funds in a monetary transaction that—
“(1) involves an entity found to be a primary money laundering concern under section 5318A or the regulations promulgated under this title; and
“(2) violates the prohibitions or conditions prescribed under section 5318A(b)(5) of this title or the regulations promulgated under this title.
“(c) Penalties.—A person convicted of an offense under subsection (a) or (b), or a conspiracy to commit such offense, shall be imprisoned for not more than 10 years, fined not more than $1,000,000, or both.
“(d) Forfeiture.—
“(1) CRIMINAL FORFEITURE.—
“(A) IN GENERAL.—The court, in imposing sentence under subsection (c), shall order that the defendant forfeit to the United States any property involved in the offense and any property traceable thereto.
“(B) PROCEDURE.—The seizure, restraint, and forfeiture of property under this paragraph shall be governed by section 413 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 853).
“(2) CIVIL FORFEITURE.—
“(A) IN GENERAL.—Any property involved in a violation of subsection (a) or (b), or a conspiracy to commit such violation, and any property traceable thereto may be seized and forfeited to the United States.
“(B) PROCEDURE.—Seizures and forfeitures under this paragraph shall be governed by the provisions of chapter 46 of title 18, relating to civil forfeitures, except that such duties, under the customs laws described in section 981(d) of title 18 given to the Secretary of the Treasury shall be performed by such officers, agents, and other persons as may be designated for that purpose by the Secretary of Homeland Security or the Attorney General.
“(e) Definitions.—In this section—
“(1) the term ‘financial institution’ has the meaning given the term in section 5312(a)(2) of this title; and
“(2) the term ‘monetary transaction’ means the deposit, withdrawal, transfer, or exchange, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, of funds or a monetary instrument (as defined in section 1956(c)(5) of title 18) by, through, or to a financial institution (as defined in section 1956 of title 18)—
“(A) including any transaction that would be a financial transaction under section 1956(c)(4)(B) of title 18; and
“(B) not including any transaction necessary to preserve a person’s right to representation as guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.”.
(b) Table Of Sections.—The table of sections for subchapter II of chapter 53 of title 31, United States Code, as amended by section 18 of this Act, is amended by adding at the end the following:
“5334. Prohibition on concealment of the source of assets in monetary transactions.”.
SEC. 20. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.
Nothing in this Act, or any amendment made by this Act, shall be construed to apply to the authorized law enforcement, protective, or intelligence activities of the United States or of an intelligence agency of the United States.
I was wondering what this bill would mean if it does pass. Maybe the value would shoot up even more because it is illegal, but what really drives the value up and down in terms of bitcoins and other currencies? I always assumed it was the difficulty of securing the next block in the chain, but as people use it more and more and popularity grows, so does the value. Basic supply and demand. So public interest does play a role in the value skyrocketing. I believe that now because of bitcoin shooting up to around $3000, the federal reserve and brother systems are starting to get a little shaky. Although, the internet could always be shut down... can it? So many questions.
"No. The Internet as a whole is a collection of many independent networks controlled and maintained by different people, businesses, and governments. It has been designed to be redundant, which means even if one portion of the network goes down, users should still be able to gain access through another.
It is still possible for the Internet to experience outages often caused by severe events such as large power outages and earthquakes. When large outages occur, a sizeable portion of the Internet, or even an entire country may be affected. However, even these serious outages will not cause the Internet to shutdown or crash. For example, in early 2007 Asia experienced a series of earthquakes that damaged undersea cables that caused wide Internet and phone related issues in that part of the world. However, the remainder of the world still had access to the Internet.
Also, some governments can setup firewalls and other protection schemes to prevent users from accessing pages on the Internet or totally block access to the Internet. For example, in 2011 the Egypt government shutdown the Internet several times during protests to prevent any information leaking out onto the Internet. However, even during this strict shutdown, citizens were still able to find ways to access the Internet."
So maybe it's a good thing to some, but to others it can be a very scary look over your shoulder scenario. Non-the-less, we'll be in a more violent online world and make sure you don't carry any sort of USB with you when you get on a plane. Invasion of privacy has quickly become the norm. I wonder how the hell they will be able to even verify that your wallet even belongs to you except through something like Coinbase when you like your bank to buy Bitcoins and Ethereum. How do you trade out to USD or other government currency? Do we just completely divide ourselves to purchasing groceries and gasoline online? Maybe we can create brand new business opportunities in the outlands of the internet? What will that mean for living a normal life?
What the hell is happening?
I believe that our US Constitution is very well thought out, but it has been butchered by regulations and funky, sneaky laws that fuck us over. If you're pissy like Antifa, calm down and think with common sense. If you're a real patriot, this is going to be a difficult road. I don't care what color you are, I don't care about your cultural background, I see us all together. Truly united under our flag. The American flag does not represent the government, it represents the people who live here. If you're an immigrant, then get your damn citizenship so you can vote this crap out. Burning buildings and rioting won't solve anything. Socialism and communism are what these politicians want. They are legal chains to tax us and farm us for labor, then throw us away when we're all used up.
It's time to start waking up. Make sure to stretch.
SOURCES
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/1241/text
http://oll.libertyfund.org/quote/187
https://bitconnect.co/bitcoin-information/10/how-is-the-price-of-cryptocurrency-defined