Treasury convenes fintech firms to shape terrorism-finance rules

What it does

This bill creates a new Independent Financial Technology Working Group—a multi-agency task force led by the Treasury Department—to research how terrorists and criminals use digital assets and blockchain technology to evade sanctions and launder money, and to develop legislative and regulatory proposals to combat these threats. The Working Group will include representatives from Treasury, Justice, FBI, DEA, Homeland Security, State Department, and intelligence agencies, plus private-sector appointees from fintech companies, blockchain intelligence firms, financial institutions, and civil liberties organizations. The group will issue annual reports for four years, then sunset, with a final strategy report due within 180 days on how the U.S. should prevent rogue actors from using digital assets to evade sanctions.

Why we flagged it

The bill's operative mechanism is the establishment of a working group to research and propose policy on terrorist use of digital assets. It is fundamentally a governance and research instrument, not a direct regulatory or appropriations measure.

What the text implies

• The Working Group's private-sector appointees (fintech, blockchain intelligence, financial institutions) will have direct input into federal counterterrorism and sanctions policy, creating potential for industry influence over regulatory proposals that may affect their business models.
• The bill mandates public reporting of the strategy to prevent sanctions evasion via digital assets, which may inadvertently disclose U.S. intelligence methods or vulnerabilities in detection systems to adversaries.
• The inclusion of 'blockchain intelligence companies' as formal participants may accelerate regulatory reliance on private surveillance and transaction-tracing tools, potentially normalizing corporate data collection for national security purposes.
• The Working Group's research and proposals will likely inform future AML/CFT regulations affecting fintech and cryptocurrency sectors, creating a de facto regulatory agenda-setting role for private companies at the table.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

The bill establishes a transparent, multi-stakeholder research and policy-development process focused on a genuine national security threat (terrorist financing and sanctions evasion via digital assets), with mandatory public reporting and civil liberties representation built into the Working Group's composition. Citizens benefit from coordinated federal action on illicit financing and from the inclusion of privacy advocates in the deliberative process.

Who stands to gain

• blockchain intelligence companies
• financial technology companies
• financial institutions
• transaction screening and compliance software vendors

Named in the bill

Department of Treasury, Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Internal Revenue Service, Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Secret Service, Department of State, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Financial technology companies, Blockchain intelligence companies — and 6 more

Where it stands

4 cosponsors: 2 Democrats, 2 Republicans.

• Mar 26, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Mar 26, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Financial Services and Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services”
• Apr 2, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
• Apr 2, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 49 - 0”
• Jul 21, 2025 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H3509-3510)”
• Jul 21, 2025 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Hill (AR) moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $410,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 17 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.

Zachary (Zach) Nunn, the sponsor, reported $1,895,327 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• Digital Currency Group — $410,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.