Recently, there has been interesting news from the U.S. Department of the Treasury that we need to pay attention to. They have submitted a report to Congress discussing how digital assets are something that needs tighter regulation, especially for the DeFi sector.

According to Alex Thorn from Galaxy Research, the U.S. government is considering something quite significant, which is a legal 'safe harbor' mechanism for freezing assets. This essentially allows institutions to temporarily freeze digital assets while investigating suspicious transactions, without having to wait for a court order first. It’s quite practical from a law enforcement perspective, although there are obviously implications for user security.

What is more concerning is the data reported. The FBI notes that losses from crypto scams in 2024 have reached $9 billion. That figure shows that digital assets are an increasingly targeted target for criminal activity, and this is why the government is starting to take the sector more seriously.

This report also recommends that DeFi explicitly bear AML/CFT responsibilities, meaning anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing must become an integral part of these platforms. This is a clear signal that regulation for digital assets is an unavoidable direction. More and more countries are beginning to take serious steps, and this U.S. report is a concrete example of that trend.