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The US Government's Mixed Signals on Digital Currency Privacy
As the Treasury Department prepares for more stringent AML enforcement around cryptos, the Fed says a digital dollar should preserve privacy.
In this article
To look at the U.S. government, it is the best of times and the worst of times for personal financial privacy.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
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On the one hand, in comments before the Senate Financial Services Committee, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said his agency's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, is planning stricter regulations on anti-money laundering and crypto.
At the same time, the CEO of DropBit was arrested on money laundering charges around a bitcoin
mixing service he allegedly ran between 2014 and 2017. In this new enforcement regime, one of the government’s major partners is Chainalysis, which has won more than $10 million in federal agency contracts since 2015.Yet, privacy advocates are also surprisingly enthused by comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who suggested in testimony to Congress that any potential U.S. digital dollar would need to preserve privacy.
Find past episodes of The Breakdown on CoinDesk. For early access before our regular 3 p.m. Eastern time releases, subscribe with Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocketcasts, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Stitcher, RadioPublica, IHeartRadio or RSS.
Nathaniel Whittemore
NLW is an independent strategy and communications consultant for leading crypto companies as well as host of The Breakdown – the fastest-growing podcast in crypto. Whittemore has been a VC with Learn Capital, was on the founding team of Change.org, and founded a program design center at his alma mater Northwestern University that helped inspire the largest donation in the school’s history.
More For You
Crypto Industry Asks President Trump to Stop JPMorgan’s 'Punitive Tax' on Data Access
A coalition of fintech and crypto trade groups is urging the White House to defend open banking and stop JPMorgan from charging fees to access customer data.
What to know:
- Ten major fintech and crypto trade associations have urged President Trump to stop big banks from imposing fees that could hinder innovation and competition.
- JPMorgan's plan to charge for access to consumer banking data may debank millions and threaten the adoption of stablecoins and self-custody wallets.
- The CFPB's open banking rule, which mandates free consumer access to bank data, is under threat as banks have sued to block it, and the CFPB has requested its vacatur.
