InfoBytes Blog
Deputy Treasury Secretary discusses priorities and developments
On September 23, Department of Treasury Deputy Secretary Justin Muzinich delivered remarks at the 2019 Treasury Market Structure Conference. He discussed broadly the Department’s domestic and international finance priorities, including housing finance reform, digital taxation, cryptocurrency, and securities. Muzinich first addressed Treasury’s housing finance reform plan released September 5 (previously covered by InfoBytes here), stating that the “plan includes nearly 50 recommended legislative and administrative reforms that are incremental, realistic, and balanced, and aim to preserve widespread and affordable access to the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage.” With respect to digital taxation, Muzinich discussed the disproportionate effect of taxing digital businesses’ revenue on U.S. firms, and stated that the Department is actively seeking a multilateral solution. He next addressed several concerns regarding the use of cryptocurrency to evade existing legal frameworks, such as those governing taxation, anti-money laundering, and countering the financing of terrorism. Muzinich emphasized that the existing legal frameworks “apply to digital assets in no uncertain terms,” and referred to guidance released by the Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which clarified that U.S. sanctions compliance obligations are the same regardless of whether a transaction is denominated in digital currency or traditional fiat currency (previously covered by InfoBytes here.) Muzinich noted, however, that there still exist several concerns that the government must consider regarding the effect cryptocurrency has on financial stability, the monetary base, consumer protection and privacy. The Deputy Secretary noted that these issues are being discussed both internationally and domestically. Muzinich closed his remarks by discussing the securities market and announced, among other things, that the Department is working with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to begin publicly releasing aggregated data on Treasury volumes, which will ensure that all market participants have access to the same comprehensive data.