The U.S. bill proposes to ban the government from using the Chinese-developed blockchain and Tether's USDT

By Elizabeth Napolitano, CoinDesk; Compiler: Song Xue, Golden Finance

U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday introduced a bill prohibiting federal government officials from doing business with Chinese blockchain companies, according to a statement from sponsors, Washington’s latest suspicion of U.S.-China ties in the cryptocurrency industry.

The bill also explicitly prohibits U.S. government officials from transacting with iFinex, the parent company of Tether, the issuer of USDT, the world’s largest stablecoin. **

The Establishing Legal Responsibility for Rogue Innovators and Technology (CLARITY) Act, co-led by U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa) and Abigail Spnberg (D-Virginia), would prohibit government officials from transacting with Chinese cryptocurrency companies. Cut off government employees’ use of China’s blockchain or the networks that underpin cryptocurrency trading platforms. **

Neither of the bill’s authors is a leader in the US House of Representatives and does not hold significant positions on committees. Other, more senior lawmakers are already pushing through multiple crypto bills, some of which also address security concerns. Some of these efforts have been approved by the House of the Whole Committee and are moving further, so it is unlikely that the new measures will be implemented before they do.

The lawmakers said in a statement that the purpose of this latest legislation is to ensure that the U.S. “foreign adversaries … There is no backdoor to access critical national security intelligence and private information of Americans.” **

Nunn, a new lawmaker who joined the House this year, said Wednesday: “In the next decade, every American will have sensitive private data stored using blockchain technology, so China’s significant investment in this infrastructure will raise huge national security and data privacy concerns.” ”

The bill also prohibits officials from transacting with The Spartan Network, The Conflux Network, and Jujube Technology Co., Ltd.

The legislation also directs the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of State, and Director of National Intelligence to develop a plan to “prevent the risks posed by the development of blockchain technology by China and other foreign adversaries”

Source: Golden Finance