The U.S. Department of the Treasury has issued a Request for Comment (RFC) as part of its obligations under the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act. The RFC is intended to gather input from the public and organizations on new methods and strategies that regulated financial institutions use, or could use, to detect illicit activity involving digital assets.
This move aligns with Executive Order 14178, which focuses on strengthening American leadership in digital financial technology. The Treasury seeks feedback specifically on areas such as application program interfaces, artificial intelligence, digital identity verification, and blockchain technology monitoring.
According to the department, "This request for comment offers the opportunity for interested individuals and organizations to provide feedback on innovative or novel methods, techniques, or strategies that regulated financial institutions use, or could potentially use, to detect illicit activity involving digital assets." The statement continues: "In particular, Treasury asks commenters about application program interfaces, artificial intelligence, digital identity verification, and use of blockchain technology and monitoring. As required by the GENIUS Act, Treasury will use public comments to inform research on the effectiveness, costs, privacy and cybersecurity risks, and other considerations related to these tools."
The feedback collected through this process will help inform future research into how effective these tools are at identifying illicit activities linked to digital assets. It will also consider associated costs as well as privacy and cybersecurity risks.
More information can be found in the official Treasury News Release and in the Federal Register Notice.
