Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has asked the US Treasury Department to extend the discussion period for the proposed regulation of non-custodial wallets from 15 to the standard 60 days.
According to a Coinbase blog post addressed to Kenneth Blanco, Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the discussion period on the newly proposed rules to regulate non-custodial cryptocurrency wallets should be extended. Earlier, community members have already expressed dissatisfaction with the relatively short time frame for discussing the rules. FinCEN said it is accepting comments on the proposed regulation by January 4th.
In total, FinCEN solicited comments on 24 issues, each of which requires detailed analysis and extensive evaluation.
“Answers to all the questions asked by FinCEN and additional questions that FinCEN has not yet addressed will take much longer than 15 days,” Coinbase said. “It is obviously impossible to do this within a few business days during national holidays and the latest outbreak of coronavirus.”
According to the pre-published version of the regulation, users who will send cryptocurrency from centralized exchanges to a private wallet will have to provide exchanges with personal information about the wallet owner if the amount sent exceeds $ 10,000 in one day. Exchanges will also be required to submit and maintain records associated with such transactions, as well as maintain records of transactions in excess of $ 3,000.
The public must provide comments or feedback on the regulation by January 4, 2021. Although elsewhere in the document it says that reviews can be submitted within 15 days after the rule is published in the Federal Register on December 23rd.
Typically 60 days are given for comments on such proposals, but the US Treasury notes that there are “important national security requirements” to shorten the comment period. Coinbase offered a simpler reason for this decision:
“There is no emergency here. There is only the outgoing administration trying to bypass the necessary public consultation and adopt hasty regulation before their time in power is over. ”
Recall that at the end of November, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong posted a series of tweets and commented on rumors about new regulation of non-custodial cryptocurrency wallets in the United States. According to him, the US Treasury Department is “hastily developing new rules.”
