Patrick Daugherty Comments on Proposed Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act

Foley & Lardner LLP Partner Patrick Daugherty is quoted in the Cointelegraph article, “Sens. Warren and Marshall introduce new money-laundering legislation for crypto,” discussing the recently proposed Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2022. The legislation aims to expand the classification of a money services business, prohibit financial institutions from using technology such as digital asset mixtures, and regulate digital asset kiosks.

While Daugherty praised the bill’s bipartisan nature and acknowledged its “salutary effect of impeding more thoroughly the abuse of digital assets for crime,” he expressed concern about “the loss of financial privacy for millions of digital asset buyers and sellers who are not criminals.”

He also identified issues with the bill’s requirement that crypto miners and validators do due diligence. “Miners and validators are not equipped to perform the new duties that this legislation would thrust upon them. They aren’t banks or brokers, which are already staffed up for this function,” Daugherty explained.