US AML watchdog requests info on all international crypto transaction over $250. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and Federal Reserve is looking to obtain more information on smaller transactions than it has ever been done.
The agencies want to lower the $3,000 threshold set in 1995 to $250 for foreign transactions, according to a notice of proposed rulemaking published on Friday. This means that, along with all transactions greater than $250 that begin or end outside the United States, financial institutions will need to share customer information. That is to say, as it is known, the Travel Rule will refer to very small sums of money changing hands.
The proposed change specifically calls out “convertible virtual currencies,” saying that they would also fall into the category of money for the purposes of this rule.
The information that financial institutions need to exchange under the travel rule is “(a) name and address of the originator or transmittor; (b) the amount of the payment or transmittal order; (c) the execution date of the payment or transmittal order; (d) any payment instructions received from the originator or transmittor with the payment or transmittal order; and (e) the identity of the beneficiary’s bank or recipient’s financial institution.”
The Financial Action Task Force is working around the world to enforce a similar law, which has proved to be extremely controversial in the world of cryptography. The mandate to collect and exchange customer information seems diametrically opposed to the “peer-to-peer electronic cash system” that the whitepaper for Bitcoin presented.
[image: Michael Discenza]
