The U.S. Treasury Department may inadvertently widen the time window for anyone wanting to comment on the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s new crypto rules.
Last month, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) proposed rules requiring registered crypto exchanges to verify the identity of anyone using “an unhosted or otherwise covered wallet” for a transaction of more than $ 3,000. At that point, the regulator said that stakeholders would have 15 days to respond with comments and later clarified that the filing deadline would end on January 4th.
However, according to Regulations.gov – the website responsible for accepting comments on the proposed FinCEN rule – crypto users have until tomorrow, Jan. 7, at 11:59 p.m. ET to respond. This effectively means that FinCEN may have submitted its proposal on December 23rd rather than December 20th as previously reported.
“This is a show,” said Dayton Young, product director for Fight for the Future, a Massachusetts-based digital rights group. “FinCEN has postponed the comment deadline for its latest proposal to monitor cryptocurrency […] because government officials can’t count to 15. ”
The group has encouraged people to speak out against the proposed rule, claiming FinCEN was trying to “ram through this dangerous new surveillance agency”. Young added:
When FinCEN announced the new rule, many argued that the period for submitting comments was insufficient. Young suggested that the regulator extend the deadline for comments to 60 days. Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer, has also spoken out in favor of a 60-day comment period in view of the holidays and the ongoing pandemic.
At the time of publication, Regulator.gov is still accepting comments beyond the Monday deadline. However, it is unclear whether comments received between January 5th and 7th will be considered valid. Cointelegraph reached out to FinCEN but received no response at the time of publication.
