The U.S. Senators Revised Cybersecurity Bill To Include Crypto

Two U.S. senators passed a new bill amending the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 to include the crypto firms to report cyberthreats they face. The U.S legislators, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and Tennessee’s Marsha Blackburn, revised the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act aimed at reducing criminal activities in crypto-space.

Cryptocurrency’s growing issues like cyber attacks, high volatility, and inflation seemingly pushed global lawmakers to cover crypto in proper legislation to protect investors from harmful incidents in the industry. As a result, almost every jurisdiction has been designing and implementing a new regulatory framework for digital assets during that time.

Revised Bill Seeks Connecting Crypto-companies With Gov Agencies

If passed, the proposed bill will open a way for crypto-oriented companies to report cyber threats directly to government agencies. As a result, Crypto companies will get government authorities’ assistance in case of a data breach, exploit, or ransomware attack. Flagging suspicious entities to law enforcement authorities will reduce the risk too.

Blackburn said in a statement;

Some bad actors have used cryptocurrency as a way to hide their illegal practices and avoid accountability. The Cryptocurrency Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act will update existing regulations to address this misuse directly. It will provide a voluntary mechanism for crypto companies to report bad actors and protect cryptocurrency from dangerous practices.

Crypto Phishing Attacks Increased Fastly

Cryptocurrency crimes have seen an immense increase in the past months. As per the report of a blockchain security and research firm, Certik, over 2 billion have been wiped out in the second quarter of 2022 in crypto-related phishing attacks. It was a 170% rise at 206 cases than its first quarter’s 106 cases.

According to a recent study conducted by cybersecurity experts from PrivacySavvy.com, despite being an age-old tactic, phishing is still one of the most effective and widely used cyberattacks, with phishing emails taking the top spot. Per the experts, the majority of internet users have been phished at least once. So if you’ve ever been phished online, you’re not alone.

Nevertheless, authorities seem to be getting into the act.

Unlike other lawmakers who intended to get rid of cryptocurrency, Lammus has believed in legislation on crypto assets and focused on the industry in the past year. In June, he also published a bipartisan bill together with the collaboration of New York Democrat Kristen Gillibrand. The bill, consisting of 61 pages, covered guidelines for the possible range of crypto and its subsectors, including the policies for stablecoins’ backing to the tax liabilities on crypto transactions.

Bitcoin’s price is currently trading above $19,000. | Source: BTCUSD price chart from TradingView.com

U.S. Senators’ Stance On Crypto

Considering cryptocurrency’s vast growth and its use as a valuable financial tool, most U.S. regulators have now changed their minds to favor a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency.

Similarly, lawmakers in the state have drafted new rules in an attempt to adopt a comprehensive approach to bring transparency and prevent illegal crypto operations. It has convened crypto exchanges in the U.S. under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) scope, and platforms are liable to register with Financial Crime Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

Alongside, the exchanges will comply with the anti-money laundering (AML) and follow the combat financing of terrorism (CFT) obligations which came as part of Biden’s executive order to build comprehensive policies for the digital assets sector.

Featured image from Pixabay and chart from TradingView.com