This is a new bill that was introduced on the floor of the US Senate entitled, “Combating Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing, and Counterfeiting Act of 2017.”
It basically says everything is evil..
*Cash is Evil
*Bitcoin/Crypto is Evil
*Prepaid Phones are Evil
*Gift Cards/Vouchers/Coupons are Evil
These people are certifiably insane. Among the bill’s sweeping provisions, the government aims to greatly extend its authority to seize your assets through “Civil Asset Forfeiture”.
Civil Asset Forfeiture rules allow the government to take whatever they want from you, without a trial or any due process.
This new bill adds a laundry list of offenses for which they can legally seize your assets… all of which pertain to money laundering and other financial crimes.
Here’s the thing, though: they’ve also vastly expanded on the definition of such ‘financial crimes’, including failure to fill out a form if you happen to be transporting more than $10,000 worth of ‘monetary instruments’.
Have too much cash? You’d better tell the government.
If not, they’re authorizing themselves in this bill to seize not just the money you didn’t report, but ALL of your assets and bank accounts.
They even go so far as to specifically name “safety deposit boxes” among the various assets that they can seize if you don’t fill out the form.
This is unbelievable on so many levels.
It’s crazy to begin with that these people are so consumed by the fact that someone has $10,000 in cash.
But it’s even crazier that they’re threatening to take EVERYTHING that you own merely for not filling out a piece of paper, without any due process whatsoever.
CALL YOUR CONGRESS MEN AND SENATORS TO TELL THEM TO NOT SIGN THIS EMAIL WORKS ASWELL https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/1241/text#toc-idea0e9489fc8f46379f95bb56c8bbbda5
Oh, and on top of civil asset forfeiture penalties, there are also criminal penalties.
Right now according to current law they can imprison you for up to FIVE YEARS for not filling out the form. Five years.
But apparently that doesn’t go far enough so this bill aims to double the criminal penalty to TEN years in prison.
Further, their bill wants to pull any business which “issues” cryptocurrency under the anti-money laundering regulatory umbrella.
Here’s where these people demonstrate that they have no idea what they’re talking about.
No one “issues” Bitcoin. There’s no Bitcoin central bank. There’s no Chairman of Bitcoin who decides on a whim to increase the supply.
Bitcoin is created automatically amounts that are predetermined by its code. It’s software.
So the Senate is essentially trying to force the Bitcoin core software to comply with money laundering regulations.
The bill also attempts to drop a major bomb on Bitcoin by including it in the list of monetary instruments that must be reported when entering or leaving the US.