The US RESTRICT Act, which aims to empower the government to fight foreign technology threats, could lead to restrictions on cryptocurrency transactions, according to advocacy group Coin Center.  

Coin Center claims the act could create a redundant regime within the Secretary of Commerce that duplicates the OFAC sanctioning system used by the Treasury Department. The language of the legislation is expansive and its application could encompass a range of electronic systems including mobile networks, e-commerce technology, distributed computing and payment applications. However, Coin Center said it would not object to the RESTRICT Act being used narrowly to prevent Bitcoin transactions with a specific recipient.