October 6, 2025 12:35PM 

# Marking the 55th Anniversary of the Bank Secrecy Act 

By [Nicholas Anthony](https://www.cato.org/people/nicholas-anthony) 

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![Bank Secrecy Act Investigation](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/2025-10/BSA55EventPromo3.png?itok=pXCxnnG2) 

This year is the 55th anniversary of the Bank Secrecy Act. At the 50th anniversary, Michael J. Casey wrote in the [*Cato Journal*](https://www.cato.org/cato-journal/spring/summer-2021/reckoning-looms-americas-50-year-financial-surveillance-system) about how “the system’s pervasive identifying, tracking, and reporting of transactions imposes very real costs on the global economy.” It’s been five years, and things have largely gotten worse.

Banks filed [27.5 million](https://www.cato.org/blog/reporting-fincens-suspicious-activity-again) reports and spent [$59 billion](https://web.archive.org/web/20250706160243/https:/risk.lexisnexis.com/-/media/files/financial%20services/research/true-cost-of-financial-crime-compliance-study-uscan-2023.pdf) on compliance last year, but the agency overseeing this surveillance has [struggled to show](https://www.cato.org/blog/how-many-arrests-were-made-fincen-director-doesnt-know) how effective it is in fighting crime. And yet, the surveillance seems to be growing larger with each passing year. For example, rather than reforming this system, Congress most recently expanded it to [cover stablecoins](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1582/text).

To mark the 55th anniversary, I will be sitting down with my colleague [Norbert Michel](https://www.cato.org/people/norbert-michel) and journalist [Naomi Brockwell](https://x.com/naomibrockwell) on October 15 to discuss how we arrived at this point and the road ahead. If you’re in DC, please join us for [the event](https://www.cato.org/events/fifty-five-years-bank-secrecy-act) at the Cato Institute’s headquarters. However, if you can’t make the trip, the event will also be streamed online.

*You can find all the* [*details for the event here*](https://www.cato.org/events/fifty-five-years-bank-secrecy-act)*.*

##### Related Tags 

[Banking and Finance](https://www.cato.org/banking-finance), [Monetary Policy](https://www.cato.org/monetary-policy), [Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives](https://www.cato.org/center-monetary-financial-alternatives) 

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