Financial Technology Protection Act of 2025
The Financial Technology Protection Act of 2025 would create an Independent Financial Technology Working Group to Combat Terrorism and Illicit Financing. The group would be chaired by the Treasury Secretary (via the Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes) and include senior representatives from a broad set of federal agencies as well as at least five members representing financial technology firms, blockchain intelligence providers, financial institutions, researchers, and privacy/civil liberties interests. Its core mission is to study how digital assets and related emerging technologies are used for terrorism or illicit financing and to develop legislative and regulatory proposals to strengthen anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism financing, and other counter-illicit financing efforts. The act requires annual reports for three years, culminating in a final report, and it sunsets after four years (with a possible wind-down period). It also directs a government-wide report and strategy within 180 days on how digital assets and emerging technologies could be exploited to evade sanctions, with a public unclassified portion and a briefing within two years on implementation. In short, the bill creates a temporary, multi-agency, multi-stakeholder working group to map risks, propose policy and regulatory changes, and increase federal coordination on digital-asset–related terrorism and illicit-financing threats, while requiring regular reporting and a defined wind-down period.
Key Points
- 1Establishment of the Independent Financial Technology Working Group to Combat Terrorism and Illicit Financing, chaired by the Treasury Secretary (Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes) and including senior officials from a wide range of federal agencies.
- 2Diverse membership, including at least five appointees representing: financial technology companies, blockchain intelligence firms, financial institutions, research institutions, and privacy/civil-liberties organizations, plus additional appointees as needed.
- 3Duties: conduct research on how digital assets and emerging technologies are used for terrorism and illicit finance, and develop legislative and regulatory proposals to strengthen anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing, and related counter-illicit-financing efforts.
- 4Reporting requirements: initial and annual reports for four years to Treasury, agency heads, and designated congressional committees, plus a final comprehensive report detailing findings and activities.
- 5Sunset and wind-down: the Working Group terminates four years after enactment (or later if wind-down activities are ongoing); unobligated funds are returned to the Treasury; temporary wind-down authority if activities are ongoing at the four-year mark.
- 6Section 3 mandate on sanctions evasion: within 180 days, the President (through the Treasury Secretary and Working Group) must submit an unclassified report and strategy on how digital assets and emerging technologies could be used to evade sanctions and how to mitigate these risks; a public unclassified portion must be posted online, with a classified annex as needed.
- 7Required briefings: within two years, a briefing to Congress on the implementation of the sanction-evasion strategy.
- 8Definitions: clarifies terms such as digital asset, blockchain intelligence company, emerging technologies (based on NSTC’s Critical and Emerging Technologies List), illicit use, foreign terrorist organization, and terrorist.