New US Bill Will Require Travelers Entering the States to Declare Bitcoin at the Border

Lately, seems cryptocurrencie’s rapid progress has attracted everyone’s attention. This trend is also confirmed by a new Congressional bill that was just introduced by Senator Chuck Grassley. If passed, the new bill would impact cryptocurrency holders everywhere in the world. Its more direct impact would still be in the US, and would require cooperation between the Commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection and the Secretary of Homeland Security.

Its main goal is to provide the border with a better protection strategy. Basically, it would make significant changes at the border crossings, as well as other types of entry ways to the US.

The bill was first introduced a few weeks ago, on May 25, and it was named U.S. Bill S.1241. As mentioned, it was introduced by Sen. Chuck Grassley, but it has several other sponsors, including Sen. John Cornyn, Sen. Diane Feinstein, as well as Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse.

The ultimate reason for pushing the bill forward is to prevent visitors to the US from bringing in undeclared assets in the form of cryptocurrencies. These undeclared funds would need to be blocked so that they wouldn’t enter the country, and these two agencies would have to present their findings in the 18 months after the bill was passed.

For the most part, this bill would affect travelers that wish to enter the US. Their biggest obligation would be the declaration of any and all currencies that could be exchanged to $10,000 or more. These funds must be made public whether the officials at the custom are able to detect them or not.

The obligation to declare these funds comes from US finance law, which says that any currency that accompanies the individual must be declared every time that he or she enters the country. Since digital currencies are under the owner’s full control at any and all times, they technically belong to this group as well. This is different from a bank account, or possessing precious metals since they aren’t following the holder, but instead, remain stored in a financial institution or another registered entity.

So the question now is how exactly would the federal government be able to detect even the possession of digital currencies, and much less the exact amount?

Some options include regulating foreign exchanges of cryptocurrencies. Another option is a global monitoring system that would be able to watch over the blockchain ledgers. They could even impose harsh penalties for disobeying these laws and extreme vetting systems. Whatever the case may be, it’s expected that the online community of cryptocurrency supporters will definitely have something to say in response to this bill.

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