According to a report by CoinDesk, US lawmakers introduced a new bipartisan bill on Wednesday (8th) that prohibits government officials from conducting business with Chinese blockchain companies. The bill also explicitly prohibits officials from engaging in transactions with iFinex, the parent company of the stablecoin USDT issuer Tether.
The bill, titled “Creating Legal Accountability for Rogue Innovators and Technology (CLARITY)”, is co-led by Republican Congressman Zach Nunn and Democratic Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger. According to a press release, the bill aims to prevent the government from utilizing blockchain network infrastructure, service providers, and distributed ledger technology developed by China and other foreign adversaries. It instructs the US Treasury Secretary, Secretary of State, and Director of National Intelligence to develop a plan to “mitigate the risks posed by the development of blockchain technology by China and other foreign adversaries.”
The legislation is intended to ensure that US adversaries “do not have backdoor access to critical national security information and the privacy information of Americans.” Newly elected Congressman Nunn, who joined the House of Representatives this year, stated:
The bill also prohibits US officials from engaging in transactions with The Spartan Network, The Conflux Network, and the development company behind the Chinese National Blockchain project and central bank digital currency, Red Date Technology Co.
The bill’s two sponsors are not part of the House leadership or hold key positions on committees. Other more senior lawmakers have been advancing multiple cryptocurrency bills, some of which also touch on security issues. Some bills have already received approval from the House Committee on Financial Services and are progressing further, so the new bill is unlikely to preempt them.
Earlier this summer, some lawmakers, out of security concerns, banned government employees from using the social media app TikTok from China. Earlier this year, a former executive of TikTok’s parent company ByteDance alleged in court documents that the Chinese Communist Party used a secret “backdoor” in its social media platform in 2018 to monitor the location and messages of Hong Kong activists. ByteDance later strongly refuted these allegations.