Despite many objections to the shortened timeframe, public comments are due tonight to respond to the U.S. Treasury Department’s proposal to require companies like crypto exchanges to know the identity behind wallets with which they do business.
By Sunday evening, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) had recorded 5,633 responses to its proposed rule. This number is despite the fact that FinCEN only gave 15 days instead of the usual 60 for responses.
The office dropped its announcement on December 18, a Friday evening a week before Christmas Day in the States. In the meantime, the due date is the first normal working day after the New Year. Not to mention the fact that the Treasury Department is only 16 days away from the patronage of a Biden government.
FinCEN’s timing has been criticized by a number of lawmakers as well as the crypto community. In addition to the problem, some potential commenters have reported problems using the US federal government’s main portal. Tuesday and Thursday in particular, a separate beta site damaged links.
Not to mention the criticism of the rule itself, according to which registered money service providers, especially crypto exchanges, have to set the restrictions of the banking secrecy law on transactions to and from their platforms and, moreover, know the advantages of identity of a self-hosted crypto wallet on the other end a transaction worth $ 3,000 or more. Many see it as a bold invasion of privacy by a financial regime that doesn’t have to enforce the guidelines.
