It looks like the congresspeople are against the new proposal to monitor crypto. So far, nine congresspeople have addressed a letter to the Treasury to rebuke the proposal. The letter was officially addressed to the Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday in response to the proposal.
The proposal requires all registered crypto businesses to ask for more customer information, especially when dealing with self-hosted wallets. The rule will, for sure, be a significant threat to peer-to-peer transactions and affect many businesses on that line. The proposal will restrict money service businesses such as crypto exchanges as it will limit them from dealing with self-hosted wallets. The Treasury specifically targets self-hosted wallets that have more than $3000.
Apart from congress, the crypto community, in general, is very much against it. Many are concerned that it is too soon for such a proposal considering Joe Biden just came into power a few weeks ago. It has been rumored that Mnuchin is ending his term as the new administration comes in, and hence it does not make sense for him to cripple the crypto industry.
Unlike other kinds of proposals that give the public a grace period of 60 days to make their comments, the Treasury has given the public just 15 days to respond, ending on Monday. It is unfair since the proposal was made public amid the holiday as it was just before Christmas. Therefore, the 15 days entail eight business days and two holidays, which does not give many the chance to express their concerns. According to congress, it is not the right approach for regulating an industry as many stakeholders will not have the opportunity to respond.
The letter signatories include Blockchain enthusiasts and leaders such as Warren Davidson, Tom Emmer, Darren Soto, David Schweikert, Ted Budd, and Bill Foster. Some congressmen are lowkey in crypto that also signed, such as Tulsi Gabbard, Senator Tom Cotton, and Suzan DelBene.
Despite the outrage from the crypto community and congress, there are low chances that the Treasury will be tickled. So far, the Treasury has not responded to the noise they have faced. When the rule comes to life, there will be legal charges against the department to violate the procedure. That means there is still light for the crypto community.
Don’t worry, we hate spam too
one weekly digest, just the important stuff.
