US Lawmakers Want State Department to Disclose Crypto Rewards

U.S. lawmakers want the Department of State, the arm of the federal government responsible for foreign policy, to reveal the rewards it pays in crypto, according to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

The State Department is to inform the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate of such rewards within 15 days of making them, said the NDAA draft, released on Wednesday.

On top of that, the department will submit a report to the same committees about the use of crypto for rewards within six months of the act being enacted. The lawmakers want to know if payments in crypto will encourage whistleblowers to come forward or whether they will end up in the hands of bad actors.

Technically, the Act, which authorizes defense spending, still has to be voted by both houses of Congress and signed into law by the president in order to be effective. However, because the NDAA is a must-pass legislation, politicians often use it for pushing a wide range of policies.