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World desk3 min

Treasury Withdraws Proposed Crypto-Mixing Rule Over Privacy and Reporting Concerns

FinCEN withdrew its proposed crypto-mixing rule over concerns about chilling legitimate activity and burdening financial institutions, while saying it will keep monitoring mixer activity.
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The U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) withdrew its proposed rule on international cryptocurrency mixing on October 6, 2026. FinCEN said the proposal’s broad definition of mixing could chill legitimate activity and create a large reporting burden for covered financial institutions. The withdrawal does not legalize mixers or end scrutiny: FinCEN says it will continue monitoring for illicit finance and may act in the future.

What Treasury withdrew

FinCEN withdrew both its 2023 finding that international convertible virtual currency (CVC) mixing was a class of transactions of primary money laundering concern and the associated proposed rule. The withdrawal took effect October 6, 2026, and was published as 91 FR 63513.

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The 2023 proposal would have applied “special measure one” under Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act. It was a proposal, not a final rule: the notice withdrew it before the proposed reporting and recordkeeping requirements took effect.

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What the proposed rule would have required

The proposal would have required covered financial institutions to report transactions they knew, suspected, or had reason to suspect involved CVC mixing within or involving a jurisdiction outside the United States. Its functional definition covered methods of obscuring a transaction’s source, destination, or amount, regardless of the protocol or service used.

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Examples in the proposal included pooling funds, algorithmically coordinating transactions, splitting transfers, using single-use wallets, exchanging asset types, and introducing user-initiated delays. Under the proposed reporting framework, institutions would have provided information such as:

  • Amounts and types of CVC involved, along with mixer names.
  • Customer-associated wallet addresses, transaction hashes, transaction dates, and IP addresses.
  • Narrative descriptions of the activity.
  • Customer records including full identity, date of birth, address, email address, or unique identifying numbers.

Those were proposed obligations only. The withdrawal means they did not become requirements under this proposal.

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Why FinCEN withdrew the proposal

FinCEN says illicit actors continue to use mixers and other methods to hinder law-enforcement investigations. Its stated reason for withdrawing the proposal was that commenters warned its expansive definition could deter legitimate activity and impose a large reporting burden on covered institutions.

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The agency also cited the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets’ July 2025 report, which recognized both illicit use and lawful use of mixers to protect financial privacy on public blockchains. The report said that “lawful users of digital assets may leverage mixers to enable financial privacy when transacting through public blockchains.”

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In the withdrawal notice, FinCEN Deputy Director Jimmy L. Kirby wrote: “While FinCEN maintains that illicit actors continue to use mixers and other tools and methods to hinder law enforcement investigations, this withdrawal is informed by the concerns from commentors that the expansive definition of CVC mixing in the proposed rule could have a chilling effect on legitimate activity and place a large reporting burden on covered financial institutions.”

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What Section 311 does—and what this action does not do

Section 311 is codified at 31 U.S.C. 5318A. It authorizes the Treasury Secretary to find that a jurisdiction, financial institution, class of transactions, or account type is of primary money laundering concern and to impose special measures on covered financial institutions. FinCEN administers this delegated authority.

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Withdrawing this finding and proposal is not a declaration that crypto mixers are legal, a repeal of existing reporting obligations, or a determination that illicit use has stopped. The Block reported that the mixer proposal and a separate 2020 proposal concerning self-hosted wallets had not been finalized, so their withdrawals did not change institutions’ existing obligations. The self-hosted-wallet proposal is a distinct action, not part of the mixer rule.

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FinCEN says monitoring will continue

The agency said: “However, FinCEN will continue to monitor activity involving CVC mixers for indicia of money laundering, terrorist financing, or other illicit finance activity, and may take appropriate steps in the future to mitigate any such activity.” The withdrawal therefore ends this specific proposed rulemaking, not FinCEN’s stated attention to mixer-related activity.

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