Several members of the US Congress are drafting legislation that is intended to recognize certain digital currencies and protect them against interference from the federal government.
The bill, which will provide protection to cryptocurrencies that comply with certain minimum requirements to prevent them from being used by those engaged in illegal business practices like drug traffickers and terrorists, is expected to be filed in September 2017, according to DailyCaller.
Based on a reliable source, at least one Republican senator and two Republican congressmen are working on the draft legislation.
The legislators, however, have requested that should not be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue and the complexity of the proposed solution.
Basic features of the bill
According to the source, the bill will focus on how to make the digital currencies as part of the mainstream form of payments being used in the country like the dollar.
Among the proposals are to protect the virtual currencies against harassment from the federal government, prevent the currencies from being considered as a form of security or investment and to protect the transactions using the currencies against taxation.
Latest developments in the cryptocurrency market
During trading on Aug. 18, 2017, the price of the new digital currency Bitcoin Cash has increased by 40 percent in the past days.
The most popular cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, meanwhile, sustained its phenomenal performance and is now valued at nearly $4,400. The leading virtual currency has already posted an increase of more than 300 percent in 2017.
However, the popularity of Bitcoin has been tainted with some controversies including a claim that a young British model was kidnapped and auctioned off on the underground web market as a “sex slave,” with the criminals asking payment in the form of Bitcoin because the digital currency is allegedly untraceable.
Various other cyber crimes have been linked to Bitcoin in the past years, making it extremely important for lawmakers to establish policies and regulations in place for cryptocurrency.