The Federal Reserve and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) have proposed lowering the threshold for registering remittances outside the United States, including for cryptocurrency transactions.
According to the document, the US Federal Reserve and FinCEN are proposing to change the thresholds at which banks must collect and store information about remittances. Regulators are proposing to decrease this value from $ 3,000 to $ 250 for any transfers outside the United States. The proposal will also expand the definition of “money” to include cryptocurrencies.
The Fed will accept public comments for 30 days after the proposal is posted on the Federal Register. Individuals can submit reviews online or via email. Note that although cryptocurrencies do not have legal tender status, according to the proposal, they can still be used to transfer value:
“Typically, cryptocurrencies can be exchanged instantly anywhere in the world through P2P payment systems that allow any two parties to transact directly with each other without the need for an intermediary financial institution. In practice, however, many people store and transfer cryptocurrencies using a financial intermediary such as a “wallet” or “exchange”.
The document points out illegal transactions using cryptocurrencies, including transfers by the North Korean hacker group Lazarus. Recall that in the spring, CipherTrace published a detailed analysis of how Lazarus hackers laundered stolen crypto assets worth more than $ 100 million, bypassing KYC checks on cryptocurrency exchanges.
BNY Mellon has processed $ 137 million in transactions for organizations linked to the OneCoin pyramid, according to FinCEN documents released last month.
