H.R. 2384 — Financial Technology Protection Act of 2025

This section establishes the Independent Financial Technology Working Group to Combat Terrorism and Illicit Financing, chaired by the Secretary of the Treasury (through the Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes) and consisting of senior representatives from 10 federal agencies and offices (i.e., Treasury, Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, IRS, DOJ, FBI, DEA, DHS, U.S. Secret Service, State, and ODNI); at least five appointees representing financial technology companies, blockchain intelligence companies, financial institutions, research organizations, and privacy/civil liberties organizations; and additional members as needed. The Working Group must (1) conduct research on terrorist and illicit uses of digital assets and related emerging technologies and (2) develop legislative and regulatory proposals to strengthen U.S. anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism, and counter-illicit financing efforts. The Working Group must submit annual reports on its findings and proposals to the Treasury Secretary, represented agency heads, and appropriate congressional committees, beginning one year after enactment and continuing for three years thereafter, plus a final report before termination. The Working Group terminates four years after enactment (or upon completing any authorized wind-up activities), with any unobligated appropriated funds returned to the Treasury.

This section directs the President, acting through the Secretary of the Treasury and in consultation with the Independent Financial Technology Working Group to Combat Terrorism and Illicit Financing, to submit to the appropriate congressional committees, within 180 days of enactment, a report on (1) potential uses of digital assets and related emerging technologies by states, non-State actors, foreign terrorist organizations, and other terrorist groups to evade sanctions, finance terrorism, launder monetary instruments, or threaten U.S. national security; and (2) a U.S. strategy to mitigate and prevent such illicit uses. The report must be submitted in unclassified form (with a possible classified annex), and its unclassified portion must be publicly posted on the Department of the Treasury website in precompressed, downloadable formats and machine-readable format if applicable. This section further requires the Secretary of the Treasury to brief the appropriate congressional committees on implementation of the strategy within two years of enactment.

This section defines terms for purposes of the Act as follows: (1) appropriate congressional committees, comprising specified committees in the Senate (Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; Finance; Foreign Relations; Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; Judiciary; and Select Intelligence) and House (Financial Services; Foreign Affairs; Homeland Security; Judiciary; Ways and Means; and Permanent Select Intelligence); (2) blockchain intelligence company, meaning any business providing software, research, or services (such as blockchain tracing tools, geofencing, transaction screening, business data collection, and sanctions screening) involving cryptographically secured distributed ledgers or similar technology that support investigations and risk management; (3) digital asset, meaning any digital representation of value recorded on a cryptographically secured digital ledger or similar technology; (4) emerging technologies, meaning critical and emerging technology areas listed in the Critical and Emerging Technologies List of the National Science and Technology Council's Fast Track Action Subcommittee, including updates; (5) foreign terrorist organization, meaning an organization designated under INA §219 (8 U.S.C. 1189); (6) illicit use, including fraud, darknet marketplace transactions, money laundering, purchase and sale of illicit goods, sanctions evasion, theft of funds, funding of illegal activities, transactions related to child sexual abuse material, and other financial transactions involving proceeds of specified unlawful activity (18 U.S.C. 1956(c)); and (7) terrorist, including any person carrying out domestic or international terrorism (as defined in 18 U.S.C. 2331).