U.S. Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, gave his long-awaited first public comments about Bitcoin in a recent interview, largely about U.S. tax code and proposed cuts for taxpayers.Possibly related:
In an interview with Yahoo Finance Correspondent, Nicole Sinclair, Mnuchin said that the U.S. Treasury is continuing to look at Bitcoin.
“The market cap has now surpassed 100 billion dollars. People are calling it a currency. They’re using it as a currency. What are your thoughts on bitcoin? And does the government plan to regulate it?,” Nicole Sinclair asked.
“Well, it is something we are looking at very carefully,” the former Goldman Sachs banker said, “and we’ll continue to look at.”
“So the first issue” Mnuchin continued, “is to make sure people can’t use bitcoin for illicit activities. So we want to make sure that you don’t have the dark web funded in bitcoins,” he warned. “And that’s something that is a concern of ours today. So, if you’re a bitcoin dealer in the United States, you have the same know-your-customer requirements and BSA requirements,” he stated.
“And those are issues I am discussing with my international counterparts. So, our number one issue is we want to make sure that this is not used for illicit transfer of funds,” he said.
In a follow-up question, he was asked for a potential timetable for when the U.S. government may regulate Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. “No,” he responded firmly. “There’s nothing specific. But we do have working groups that are looking at this. And, again, Bitcoin is something we’ll be watching very carefully.”...MORE
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