US Treasury to hire crypto policy officers to combat industry crimes

Published at: Dec. 18, 2020

The United States Department of the Treasury is looking for expert advice on cryptocurrencies to tackle legal challenges associated with the industry.

The U.S. Treasury’s bureau, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, has posted two job applications for crypto policy officers. The agency is seeking professional expertise on crimes related to digital assets.

Posted on Dec. 12, the two full-time and permanent positions target experts specializing in crypto-related finance threats and risk in order to “assist in the development of policy responses to these challenges.” FinCEN expects that new policy officers will provide insights on a wide array of areas like digital identity, regulatory and financial technology.

The authority said that GS-14 and GS-13 positions require at least one year of specialized experience at a related level of difficulty, in accordance with grade levels in the Federal service. FinCEN specified that salary for both positions ranges from $102,663 to $157,709 per year.

FinCEN emphasized that it expects new experts to perform “extremely complex and sensitive assignments” related to crypto, including the issuance of advisories and other guidance to financial institutions.

FinCEN’s latest move apparently demonstrates that the authority is somewhat receptive to the industry's feedback on the rumored ban of the so-called “self-hosted” crypto wallets by the U.S. Treasury.

As reported in early December, the rumored blockade envisions rules to ban or severely restrict "self-hosted" cryptocurrency wallets — a somewhat ambiguous categorization of self-custodied private key. On Dec. 9, several members of Congress representatives, including Warren Davidson and Tom Emmer, voiced their opposition to the allegedly upcoming ban, arguing the action would hinder American leadership and technological innovation.

Major industry figures like Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire subsequently joined the effort, stressing that such an initiative does not address actual risks in the crypto industry.

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