Crypto a security threat, instrument for illicit activities: Trump admin

The Trump administration has came out openly against cryptocurrencies, asserting that bitcoin had been exploited to support billions of dollars of illicit activity like cyber crime, tax evasion and ransomware.

“This is indeed a national security issue,” US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters at a hurriedly-convened news conference at the White House on Monday.

Mnuchin’s serious concerns regarding the growing misuse of virtual currencies by money launderers, terrorist financiers, and other bad players, comes days ahead of representatives of Facebook will go to the Capitol Hill to discuss the proposal for its recently-announced cryptocurrency, Libra.