# 119-hr-4394: the CODE Act of 2025

119-hr-4394, the CODE Act of 2025, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Casten, Sean [D-IL-6] (D-IL); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-04-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4394
- As of: 2026-04-21
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-4394
- Congress: 119
- Title: the CODE Act of 2025
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2025-07-15
- Sponsor: Rep. Casten, Sean [D-IL-6] (D-IL)
- Cosponsors: 0
- Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-04-21

## Summary

**Integrating anti-money laundering, sanctions, identity verification, and cybersecurity controls into decentralized finance (DeFi) smart contracts.** This bill would create a time-limited, Treasury-led public-private program to test pre-deployment controls, push FinCEN guidance, and require rules that apply Bank Secrecy Act standards to DeFi services. - DeFi platforms and developers would face new compliance expectations. The bill would require rulemaking to define "decentralized finance service" and "decentralized smart contract" and would mandate risk-based anti-money laundering programs that meet Bank Secrecy Act standards and risk-based sanctions compliance, with a rulemaking due by 30 months. - Private-sector risk management firms would be invited to join Treasury-led tests of integrated controls. The Secretary of the Treasury would set up the partnership within 6 months and the program would run for 18 months. Services owned or controlled by specified "covered persons" would be barred from participating. - Regulators and law enforcement would get coordinated input and guidance. Treasury must consult Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the FBI, the U.S. Secret Service, NIST, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. FinCEN would also be directed to publish an advisory on responsible DeFi development within 18 months.

## Provisions PRIA read

- Pilot program for decentralized finance rules: benefit, medium. If enacted, Treasury would set up a short-term public‑private program within 6 months. It would test adding anti‑money laundering, identity checks, sanctions, and cybersecurity controls into smart contracts before they go live. It would also consider a secure data gateway to update contracts after…
- Stronger checks on decentralized finance services: mixed, medium. If enacted, FinCEN would publish guidance within 18 months on how to build and run decentralized finance services that follow the Bank Secrecy Act. Treasury would issue a rule within 30 months to define what counts as a DeFi service and a decentralized smart contract. The rule would require DeFi se…
- Who is covered by decentralized finance rules: mixed, low. If enacted, the bill would define key terms used throughout. It would spell out who is a “covered person,” what counts as a decentralized finance service, and what a decentralized smart contract and public blockchain network are. Examples include trading platforms, lending, staking and liquidity se…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-7977: Energy Bills Relief Act
- 119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act
- 119-hr-3971: Domestic Workers Bill of Rights Act
- 119-hr-2725: Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2025
- 119-hr-7853: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026
- 119-hres-1058: Recognizing that it is the duty of the Federal Government to develop and implement a Transgender Bill of Rights to protect and codify the rights of transgender…

## Sources
- [119-hr-4394 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/4394)

## Related
- [119-hr-7977: Energy Bills Relief Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7977)
- [119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7973)
- [119-hr-3971: Domestic Workers Bill of Rights Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3971)
- [119-hr-2725: Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-2725)
- [119-hr-7853: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7853)
- [119-hres-1058: Recognizing that it is the duty of the Federal Government to develop and implem…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hres-1058)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4394 (as of 2026-04-21).