Congress Seeks to Modernize 50-Year-Old Bank Secrecy Act With STREAMLINE Act

After more than half a century, U.S. lawmakers are moving to overhaul one of the country’s cornerstone financial crime laws — the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA).

A bipartisan group led by Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) has introduced the STREAMLINE Act, a bill that aims to modernize the BSA’s reporting requirements to reflect inflation and current economic realities.

What the Bill Does

Under the STREAMLINE Act, financial institutions would see long-awaited updates to mandatory reporting thresholds:

• Currency Transaction Reports (CTRs): raised from $10,000 to $30,000
• Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs): raised from $2,000–$5,000 to $3,000–$10,000
• Inflation Adjustment: thresholds would be indexed every five years moving forward

These are the first such adjustments since the law’s passage in 1970, when $10,000 carried more than $80,000 in today’s purchasing power.

“After more than 50 years of inflation, the Bank Secrecy Act’s reporting thresholds are badly outdated. They must be modernized,” said Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), a co-sponsor of the bill.
“This legislation cuts red tape for banks and credit unions while ensuring law enforcement retains the tools they need to do their job.”

Impact on Crypto and Fintech

The modernization effort extends to crypto exchanges and payment firms, which fall under the same AML and Know Your Customer (KYC) rules as banks.

Companies like Coinbase and Kraken, both registered as money services businesses, are required to submit CTRs and SARs under the current framework. Raising thresholds would reduce administrative burdens and compliance costs — especially for firms processing large volumes of blockchain transactions where small amounts frequently trigger reports.

At the same time, Senate Democrats, including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), met with executives from Circle, Ripple, Kraken, Coinbase, and Chainlink to discuss a federal digital asset market structure bill— the Senate counterpart to the House’s CLARITY Act.

“The senators as a group said they were committed to getting a bill done,” reported journalist Eleanor Terrett on X.

Regulatory and Industry Coordination

The proposal comes amid broader discussions about modernizing financial data and digital asset rules in Washington.

This week, fintech and crypto trade associations sent a joint letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) urging the agency to finalize an open banking rule, affirming that consumers — not banks — own their financial data.

The proposed STREAMLINE Act enjoys bipartisan support, but progress may be slow due to the ongoing U.S. government shutdown, now one of the longest in history.

Still, if passed, the bill would mark a major modernization of U.S. anti–money laundering regulation, potentially easing the compliance load for both banks and crypto platforms — while preserving law enforcement’s ability to track illicit finance in an evolving digital economy.

Disclaimer

This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Cryptocurrency trading involves risk and may result in financial loss.