Is using Bitcoins part of illegal or illicit activities? Steven Mnuchin, US Secretary of the Treasury, is stressing that bitcoin usage needs to be examined very carefully. It is vital that bitcoins are not being used for illicit purposes.
Mnuchin claims that there is a very big possibility that bitcoins are funding dark web activities. That is a huge problem for the web, for world economies, and concerned citizens.

The bitcoin phenomena is a subject of great concern to world economics and Mnuchin’s foreign counterparts. It is of the utmost urgency that bitcoin dealers in the US and across the world comply with certain rules and requirements. The Bank Secrecy Act was developed to counter money laundering and fraud and a practice known as "Know-your-customer" is being implements to control illegal use of bitcoins.

Bitcoins are still a bit of an enigma and the Treasury still has no official stance on cryptocurrencies. There is no deadline for any type of regulatory announcements, but there are groups working on the logistics of bitcoin and the web.

Mnuchin’s elevations about the illegal use of bitcoins, came shortly after the Treasury announced that there is a group in place to look over the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s (FinCEN) cryptocurrency regulations.

It has been suggested that the Treasury Department carefully consider how FinCEN addresses money laundering and terrorist financing risks. Written regulations determining prioritizes, identification of terrorist groups associated with virtual currencies needs to be thoroughly examined and tightened up.