US Treasury flags digital‑asset AML needs
The US Treasury released a 2026 report calling for a technology‑neutral, risk‑based approach to anti‑money‑laundering and counter‑terrorist financing rules for digital assets, which tightens the compliance spotlight on lenders that touch tokenised flows. That guidance pushes regulators toward rules that treat digital transfers and tokenised value like traditional payments — meaning firms will need auditable, adaptable monitoring rather than one‑off patches. For lenders and platform providers, the result is more mandatory integration of KYC/transaction monitoring across both fiat and crypto rails. (jdsupra.com)
The U.S. Department of the Treasury delivered a congressionally required report on March 6, 2026 that maps how new technologies can help stop illegal uses of digital money and stablecoins. (perkinscoie.com) The report was produced under the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act, which became law on July 18, 2025, and reflects more than 220 industry comments Treasury received while drafting its findings and recommendations. (complianceconcourse.willkie.com) When Treasury uses the phrase “technology‑neutral, risk‑based” it means regulators should focus on outcomes (detecting and stopping illicit flows) rather than prescribing specific tools; a risk‑based approach asks firms to size their controls to the actual risk of a product or customer instead of applying the same check to every transaction. (perkinscoie.com) Treasury names practical tools that firms should be using or piloting: artificial intelligence (software that finds suspicious patterns across millions of transactions), digital identity systems (ways to verify who a customer is with cryptographic or federated credentials), blockchain analytics (software that traces token movements on distributed ledgers), and application programming interfaces or APIs (software links that let monitoring tools connect to payment rails). (jdsupra.com) The report flags specific gaps that affect lenders: Treasury points to foreign digital‑asset service providers that do not meet U.S. identity and monitoring expectations as a primary vulnerability, and it urges Congress and agencies to clarify which platforms and decentralized protocols must meet U.S. anti‑illicit‑finance obligations so banks and captive lenders know when and how to apply controls. (perkinscoie.com) Market moves that make compliance integrations easier are already underway: Solifi acquired DataScan to add wholesale‑finance intelligence and a digital audit product for inventory and risk inspections, and Solifi’s stated roadmap links that functionality into its cloud Open Finance Platform to give lenders more auditable, data‑driven controls over dealer and inventory flows. (thomabravo.com) Separately, Solifi’s partnerships to speed implementations and cloud migrations indicate how lenders can move faster to meet Treasury’s expectations: the company announced a delivery partnership with Liventus and Consult Disrupt to shorten go‑lives and build bespoke integrations that connect identity and monitoring tools into lending workflows. (prnewswire.com) Treasury did not impose new rules in this report but recommended legislative and standards work—including agency guidance, collaboration with technical standard bodies, and possible statutory clarifications—so examiners and regulated firms should expect clearer, enforceable expectations next; firms that can demonstrate integrated, auditable identity and transaction monitoring across both traditional and tokenized rails will be best positioned. (jdsupra.com)
