U.S. senators seek to block foreign adversaries from AI technology in new bill

Policy U.S. senators seek to block foreign adversaries from AI technology in new bill Senators Tim Scott and Bill Hagerty, who managed to push the crypto GENIUS Act into law, introduced the bill to give the government powers to defend U.S. AI. By Jesse Hamilton | Edited by Nikhilesh De Jun 30, 2026, 11:02 p.m. 2 min read Make preferred on Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Make preferred on Republican members of the U.S. Senate are pushing a new bill to protect U.S. AI technology. (Jesse Hamilton/CoinDesk) Summary Show Two Republicans — the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and the author of the GENIUS Act for stablecoins — joined to introduce a new bill meant to reduce foreign threats to U.S. AI technology. The bill would give the U.S. Commerce Department more authorities to protect the domestic industry. The U.S. Commerce Department would have more authority to shield domestic artificial intelligence technology from the supply chains of foreign adversaries in a bill introduced Tuesday by two Republican senators who've been at the center of crypto legislation in this congressional session: Tim Scott and Bill Hagerty. The new bill would give Commerce the ability to block "transactions involving technology designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied by persons owned, controlled, or directed by foreign adversary countries." But it's being pushed by the two Republicans as this session of Congress is winding toward the summer break and midterm elections, leaving it little opportunity to advance unless it's later latched onto a must-move bill. “Americans should not have to worry that China or Russia can use the technology in our cars, phones, or networks against us,” said Scott, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, who worked with Hagerty to pass last year's Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act. Foreign adversaries are nations determined to be actively working against U.S. national security, currently including Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. Russia has run afoul of the U.S. in the cybersecurity realm, and China's tech sector and AI advances are particularly relevant for this legislation. The bill would codify a position at the Commerce Department to oversee this authority, the assistant secretary of commerce for information and communications technology supply chains. It would also seek to maintain public access to open-source AI software. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to promote U.S. AI innovation, noting its intent to also "protect American ingenuity and intellectual property from exploitation and theft by adversaries." Regulation Artificial Intelligence Latest Crypto News 1 Trump pocketed more than $1 billion from crypto ties as industry headed toward slump 36 minutes ago 2 Phantom doubles down on perpetual futures with hire of Hyperliquid market builders 2 hours ago 3 Companies spending the most on AI are growing jobs, Ramp study finds 2 hours ago 4 Why OpenUSD's 'real threat' that tanked Circle stock still faces a steep uphill battle for adoption 4 hours ago 5 SEC giving novel ETFs a rethink as it opens comment period on overhauling U.S. rules 5 hours ago 6 Chinese exile once linked to Trump strategist gets 30-year sentence in $1 billion fraud 6 hours ago 7 Jefferies warns of crypto market volatility as Clarity Act faces Senate test 8 hours ago 8 Circle craters 17% as Stripe, Coinbase and BlackRock back rival stablecoin network 8 hours ago 9 MetaMask launches Money Account with stablecoin yield and spending in one wallet 9 hours ago 10 Tokenized securities need competition, not gatekeepers 9 hours ago Latest Research Building the Zcash Machine: Tachyon and Quantum Readiness Building the Zcash Machine: Tachyon and Quantum Readiness Zcash’s Tachyon upgrade aims to scale shielded payments, improve quantum readiness, and test whether its funding, security, and governance can hold. By CoinDesk Research 12 hours ago Commissioned by GenZcash Zcash’s Tachyon upgrade aims to scale shielded payments, improve quantum readiness, and test whether its funding, security, and governance can hold. Why it matters : Zcash’s Tachyon upgrade aims to scale shielded payments, improve quantum readiness, and test whether its funding, security, and governance can hold. View Full Report More From Policy Trump pocketed more than $1 billion from crypto ties as industry headed toward slump SEC giving novel ETFs a rethink as it opens comment period on overhauling U.S. rules Chinese exile once linked to Trump strategist gets 30-year sentence in $1 billion fraud