A number of players are encouraging individuals to speak out against FinCEN’s new crypto rules before comments close next week. Crypto exchange Coinbase and the foundation behind Monero are the latest firms to join in calling for crypto users to share their thoughts on the U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s new rules. In a blog post today, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said the proposal would represent “too big of an intrusion” on users’ privacy, stating that crypto exchanges would need to collect and share names and addresses for anyone sending or receiving more than $3,000 in crypto in a …

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has not been kind to crypto in the past year. In March 2020, in the SEC v. Telegram case, the Commission won a worldwide injunction against the proposed issuance of Grams by Telegram, undoing years of innovative work even in the absence of any allegations of fraud. Then, on the last day of September 2020, Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein dashed the hopes of Kik Interactive by ruling in favor of the SEC’s motion for summary judgment in SEC v. Kik Interactive, finding that Kik had sold securities when it issued its Kin crypto tokens. …

Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the United States, is advocating extension for the industry’s feedback deadline to newly proposed crypto rules by the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN. In a Dec. 21 blog post, Coinbase’s chief legal officer Paul Grewal addressed FinCEN’s newly released rulemaking regarding self-hosted crypto wallets. The blog post represents an open letter to Kenneth Blanco, the director of FinCEN. In the letter, Grewal considered the new rules by the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, as an “unfortunate and disappointing departure” from the company’s long-running relationship with the regulator. Grewal elaborated that …

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 …

Several members of Congress have voiced opposition to a rumored blockade on self-hosted crypto wallets in the works at the U.S. Treasury. In a Dec. 9 letter addressed to Treasury Secretary Mnuchin, four members of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus wanted answers for rumored Treasury rulemaking that would restrict self-hosted wallet usage in the U.S. The authors — Warren Davidson, Tom Emmer, Ted Budd and Scott Perry — argue that such limitations: "Would hinder American leadership and preclude meaningful participation in the technological innovation currently underway throughout the global financial system." Speaking to Cointelegraph, Davidson noted that Treasury rulemaking is likely …

As President-Elect Biden continues to round out his roster of appointees, he has tapped an Obama-era chair of the Federal Reserve to lead his administration's economic policy. According to a Wall Street Journal exclusive published on Nov. 23, the Biden team plans to nominate Janet Yellen to serve as Treasury Secretary. Obama originally appointed Yellen to the Fed in 2014, where she remained until early 2018. In a term that lined up with a massive expansion of public knowledge of cryptocurrencies and ended right after Bitcoin's dramatic 2017 bull run, Yellen was consistently critical of the space, calling Bitcoin "anything …

Since the United States Federal Reserve and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network opened for public comment a proposed rule to acquire more information on smaller international transactions, many crypto users have labeled the measure an invasion of privacy. On Oct. 23, the regulatory agencies published a notice of a proposal to modify a long-standing rule in which financial institutions in the U.S. are required to exchange client information for all international transactions greater than $3,000. The proposal — which includes “transactions involving convertible virtual currencies and digital assets with legal tender status” — would lower this monetary threshold to $250. …

Major players in U.S. crypto lobbying are coming out in defense of noncustodial wallets. On Tuesday, the Blockchain Association released a new report presenting policy options for self-hosted wallets to regulators. On Wednesday, Coin Center published an expert view by Jai Ramaswamy, also defending such wallets. The Blockchain Association is a trade organization for the crypto industry, while Coin Center is a nonprofit focused on defending decentralization before policymakers. Both are based in Washington, D.C. Ramaswamy currently works on compliance for Celo's parent company, C Labs, and was formerly the head of the Department of Justice’s Anti-Money Laundering division. His …

The United States is girding its loins for an election that has cast a pall over a far longer timeframe than we ever should have let it. But then again, what did you expect when so many people spent so much of the past year cut off from their normal lives and circles, growing increasingly dependent on social media as a way of connecting with the outside world? That's not a recipe for sanity, even if it was a race between sane people. The phenomenon of modern information flow has gotten an enormous amount of attention since the last, similarly …

The ease of laundering money in the U.S. before 1970 boggles the mind. Prior to the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) of that year, there were no federal standards for banks to keep records on activity that fell under the category of “suspicious.” There were also no consistent reporting requirements — it was the BSA that established the $10,000 threshold that stands to this day. But it’s not like the BSA banished money laundering from U.S. shores. It wouldn’t even be until 1986 that money laundering was classified as a federal crime — a landmark in global anti-money laundering. Despite that …

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and Federal Reserve are looking to get more information on smaller transactions than ever before. According to a notice of proposed rulemaking published on Friday, the agencies want to lower the $3,000 threshold established in 1995 to $250 for international transactions, meaning that financial institutions would need to exchange client information alongside all transactions greater than $250 that begin or end outside of the United States. Which is to say, the Travel Rule, as it is known, would apply to quite small amounts of money changing hands. The proposed change specifically calls out "convertible …

A line from immortal comic strip Calvin & Hobbes goes “a good compromise leaves everybody mad.” When it comes to laws governing crypto, authorities are usually asking for pretty major compromises because they are, at their very best-intentioned, trying to work things out. While it’s a fast-developing area of law — honestly a treat to cover — that means it’s fast-developing relative to law, not tech. There is an innate conservatism to anything having to do with how people handle their money. That extends to laws governing how money and investments function. Consequently, everything regulators touch in crypto develops slower …