US Bill proposes to ban the use of Chinese-developed blockchain and Tether’s USDT by the government

Proposed US Bill Aims to Prohibit Government Usage of Chinese-Developed Blockchain and Tether's USDT

Author: Elizabeth Napolitano, CoinDesk; Translation: Songxue, LianGuai

According to a statement from a sponsor, US legislators on Wednesday proposed a bill that would prohibit federal government officials from conducting business with Chinese blockchain companies. This is Washington’s latest suspicion regarding the relationship between the US and China in the cryptocurrency industry.

The bill also explicitly prohibits US government officials from transacting with iFinex, the parent company of Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin USDT.

The “Creating Lawful Association of Rogue Actors Using Cryptocurrency and Technology (CLARITY) Act,” led by US Representatives Zack Nunn (Republican, Iowa) and Abigail Spanberger (Democrat, Virginia), would prohibit government officials from transacting with Chinese cryptocurrency companies. It would cut off government employees’ access to networks supporting Chinese blockchain or cryptocurrency trading platforms.

• The Potential Approval of Bitcoin ETFs: A Window of Opportunity
• Stablecoins: Unstable by Nature
• Cryptocurrency Taxation – The Wild World of Crypto Taxes

Neither of the bill’s two sponsors hold leadership positions in the US House of Representatives, nor do they hold important roles in committees. Other more senior legislators have been pushing for multiple cryptocurrency bills, some of which also involve security issues. Some of these efforts have been approved by the full House Committee and are further progressing, so it is unlikely that the new measure will be implemented before them.

In a statement, legislators stated that the goal of this latest legislation is to ensure that America’s “foreign adversaries… don’t have the backdoor to gain critical national security intelligence and the private information of Americans.”

Representative Nunn, who joined the House earlier this year, said on Wednesday: “In the next decade, every American will have sensitive personal data stored using blockchain technology, so China’s significant investment in this infrastructure raises significant national security and data privacy issues.”

The bill also prohibits officials from transacting with The SLianGuairtan Network, The Conflux Network, and Red Date Technology Co., Ltd.

The legislation also instructs the US Treasury Secretary, the Secretary of State, and the Director of National Intelligence to develop a plan to “mitigate the risks posed by China and other foreign adversaries’ development of blockchain technology.”

We will continue to update Blocking; if you have any questions or suggestions, please contact us!