Guest columnist: Congress must reject CLARITY Act

Guest columnist: Congress must reject CLARITY Act

Published 12:03 am Friday, August 28, 2026

By Thomas Loving/Guest columnist

America’s strength is more than our military power. It depends on economic leadership, energy security, strong law enforcement and the ability to cut off hostile regimes from exploiting our systems to undermine our country.

That is why Congress should reject the CLARITY Act in its current form.

By creating broad exemptions and carve outs for crypto special interests, the legislation would interfere with law enforcement and national security officials’ ability to identify who is moving money, where it is going and whether it is tied to sanctioned actors. Without strong Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti Money Laundering (AML) standards, bad actors in Iran and North Korea can use crypto to fund terrorism, launder money for criminal activity, and undermine our critical defense tools.

The danger is not theoretical.

North Korea stole more than $2 billion in crypto assets in 2025, most of which was used to fund their weapons program. And Iran has a history of using crypto to evade sanctions, fund terrorist proxies and move money outside the reach of U.S. authorities. In June, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Nobitex, Iran’s largest digital asset exchange, saying it facilitated payments tied to these activities, including transactions for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Now, Iranian bad actors are extorting tolls from commercial vessels seeking passage through the Strait of Hormuz and demanding that payments be made exclusively in crypto.