Wednesday, April 19, 2023

"Decentralized Cryptocurrency Markets Threaten U.S. Security, Treasury Says"

As noted in last year's ""Justice Dept’s crypto chief: Crypto thefts are 'serious national security concerns'" (Everything A National Security Concern)":

If Every Issue Is a Security Issue, Nothing Is
And April 4, 2023:
"Pentagon Tries to Cast Bank Runs as National Security Threat" (Meet the Office of Strategic Capital)

And from the Wall Street Journal, April 6:

In new report, the department lays foundation for regulation, enforcement of ‘DeFi’ markets

The burgeoning decentralized cryptocurrency market threatens U.S. national security and needs greater oversight and enforcement against money-laundering, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Thursday.

The warning, in a new Treasury report assessing the risk of the so-called DeFi markets, lays the foundation for tougher regulations and punitive action by federal agencies.

DeFi platforms enable crypto investors to transact with each other through software running online, without a central intermediary overseeing transactions. Without the intermediaries of traditional finance such as banks, regulators currently have little insight into DeFi transactions. Ransomware hackers, rogue states and other national security threats have seized upon the market’s opaqueness to move money around the world without detection, facilitating the financing critical to their operations, the Treasury Department report said.

“Illicit actors, including criminals, scammers, and North Korean cyber actors are using DeFi services in the process of laundering illicit funds,” said Brian Nelson, Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. “Capturing the potential benefits associated with DeFi services requires addressing these risks.”....

....MUCH MORE

The thing about totalitarian control is that it's, well, total.