U.S. Treasury Secretary calls cryptocurrencies a matter of national security

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Stephen Mnuchin held a press conference on the regulation of cryptocurrencies on Monday evening.

According to him, the Trump administration has "very serious doubts" about the Libra cryptocurrency presented by Facebook.

"It's really a matter of national security," Mnuchin said. - We will not allow digital currency service providers to operate in the shadows.

According to Mnuchin, the Ministry of Finance's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) "will set the highest standards for all persons involved in transactions in Bitcoin, Libra or any other cryptocurrency.

He also criticized the cryptocurrency as a whole, thus supporting U.S. President Donald Trump in his statement last week. "Bitcoin is highly volatile and based on emptiness. We are concerned about the speculative nature of Bitcoin and will do everything we can to ensure that the U.S. financial system is protected from fraud," said the Treasury Secretary.

In addition, Mnuchin said that he intends to discuss the problem he voiced during the G7 summit this week in France. "Spatial" discussions on this topic are already underway with Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, he added.

"As for Libra and other cryptocurrency developments, our ultimate goal is to maintain the integrity of the financial system and protect it from abuse," Mnuchin said.

Earlier, The Verge with reference to the head of the cryptocurrency project Facebook David Markus wrote that Libra will not be launched until the company "completely eliminates all the doubts of the regulators. According to Mnuchin, it may not happen right away.

"They and everyone else have a lot of work to do to satisfy us," he said, noting that Facebook was "very frank with the administration.

The Treasury Secretary also called the US President's doubts about the performance of banking functions by cryptocurrency companies "reasonable" and recommended investors to "be vigilant" when working with Bitcoin.

"There are many good things to invest in. I have no idea why Bitcoin is trading where it is. I don't comment on whether it's high or low," he said.