$10,000 Crypto Reporting Rule for Private Wallets Shelved by U.S. Regulators

The U.S. Treasury has dropped a proposed cryptocurrency reporting requirement that would have subjected large transfers involving self-custody wallets to additional scrutiny.

FinCEN announced Sunday that it was withdrawing the self-custody proposal as well as a separate rule aimed at crypto mixers. Both measures had remained proposals and never became effective.

The wallet rule originated in December 2020, near the end of Donald Trump’s first administration. It would have required banks and money-service businesses, including cryptocurrency exchanges, to report when customers moved more than $10,000 in digital assets to or from wallets they controlled themselves.

The $10,000 threshold could have applied to transactions accumulated over a 24-hour period rather than only to an individual transfer. Covered companies also would have been required to gather information about the customer and the wallet involved on the opposite side of the transaction.

The proposal focused on so-called unhosted wallets, where users hold their own private keys and maintain direct control of their cryptocurrency instead of placing the assets with an exchange or bank.

After drawing thousands of public comments, the proposal remained unresolved for almost six years.

FinCEN’s action also removes a 2023 proposal concerning crypto mixing. That measure would have classified transactions involving crypto mixers as a primary money-laundering concern, potentially giving the government authority to impose additional reporting obligations on financial institutions handling those transactions.

The agency said the two withdrawals form part of the Trump administration’s broader deregulatory effort and its push to make digital-asset regulations “fit-for-purpose.”