- The bill bars government officials from working with Tether’s parent company iFinex
- “Enemies” of the US should have no access to US citizens’ private information
US legislators introduced a bill on November 8, which would ban the federal government from doing business with Chinese blockchain companies, CoinDesk reported.
The bill would also bar government officials from working with Tether’s parent company iFinex. Tether issues USDT, the world's largest stablecoin by market cap.
The bill, known as the “Creating Legal Accountability for Rogue Innovators and Technology (CLARITY) Act”, is in line with government efforts to crack down on cryptocurrency. Although the bill’s creators hold no prominent positions on committees, senior legislators are also working on crypto bills, some of which deal with security issues.
National security concerns
The aim of the latest bill is to make sure “enemies” of the US have no access to US citizens’ private information and critical national security intelligence according to a paraphrased statement by legislators. One of the bill’s authors said that every American will have private and sensitive information stored on a blockchain within the next decade, which means China's significant investments in this infrastructure presents a huge data privacy and national security risk.
Other restrictions
CLARITY also bars officials from transacting with The Conflux Network, The Spartan Network, and Red Date Technology Co. Red Date created China's digital yuan, its central bank digital currency (CBDC).
The bill also directs the US Secretary of State, the US Secretary of the Treasury, and the Director of National Intelligence to create a plan to hinder the risks posed by China and other “foreign adversaries” blockchain technology development.
In the footsteps of TikTok ban
The proposed restrictions come after legislators banned government employee use of the Chinese social media app TikTok this summer. A former staff member of ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, had made claims that the Chinese government used a secret "backdoor" in the social media app to track dissidents' messages and locations in 2018.
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