On Friday, December 18th, the  U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) released a draft  Notice of Proposed Rulemaking imposing new requirements for banks and money services businesses to submit reports to the government, keep records, verify the identity of customers, and obtain information on counterparties who hold, buy, and sell cryptocurrencies and digital assets involving self-managed wallets. 

Treasury is providing a 15-day comment period during the peak holiday season, an 11th hour attempt to regulate an industry in the absence of collaboration and input from the people and companies who will be impacted.

A 90-day timeframe is standard for offering a meaningful opportunity to provide comments and feedback.  This compressed 15-day comment period provides no real opportunity for the industry or public to weigh in, falling over the Christmas and New Year’s federal holidays as well as two weekends, allowing a mere 8 business days to comment.  

We call on Secretary Mnuchin and the Treasury Department to extend the comment period by 90 days, providing time for the industry and consumers to evaluate the proposed new rules, consider their practical impact, plan for implementation, and offer informed comments.