S.Amdt. 2251

As your legislative analyst, let us look at what Mr. Reed is trying to do with this amendment to the bill about payment stablecoins (S. 1582). We need to keep our elected officials accountable by understanding exactly how they want to handle government funds and digital assets.

Key Points of the Amendment

• No New Digital Assets: The amendment states that no funds shall be used to acquire additional digital assets. The only exceptions are when these assets come from criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings or from civil money penalties imposed by an agency.

• Getting Rid of Digital Assets: The Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney General shall dispose of any digital assets currently sitting in their respective forfeiture funds. They must do this in a reliable and predictable way over time.

• Where the Money Goes: The disposed digital assets will be used for specific purposes, which include:

  • Being returned to identifiable and verifiable victims of crime
  • Being used for law enforcement operations
  • Being equitably shared with State and local law enforcement partners
  • Other purposes already outlined in specific existing sections of the United States Code and the Controlled Substances Act

• Reporting to Congress: The Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney General must include a report on the time horizons over which they expect to dispose of these digital assets in their regular reports to Congress.