FinCEN withdraws proposed crypto wallet and mixing rules

WASHINGTON, October 5, 2026 — The U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has withdrawn two proposed rules that would have imposed additional anti-money laundering reporting and recordkeeping requirements on financial institutions handling certain digital asset transactions.

The first proposal would have required financial institutions to maintain records, verify customer identities and submit reports for certain transactions involving convertible virtual currencies and unhosted wallets. The second would have imposed a special measure targeting convertible virtual currency mixing as a class of transactions presenting heightened money laundering concerns.

FinCEN said it considered comments submitted in response to both proposals and decided to withdraw them as part of the Trump administration’s deregulatory agenda and efforts to ensure digital asset regulations are “fit-for-purpose.”

The withdrawal of the mixing proposal is scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on Oct. 6. The document was made available for public inspection on Oct. 5 and remains unpublished until its formal publication.

FinCEN originally proposed the mixing measure in October 2023, when it identified international convertible virtual currency mixing as a class of transactions of primary money laundering concern under Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act. The proposed rule would have required covered financial institutions to report certain transactions suspected of involving mixing activity outside the United States.

At the time, FinCEN said mixing services could obscure the source and destination of cryptocurrency and had been used by cybercriminals, sanctioned actors and state-linked groups, including North Korean networks.

The withdrawals remove the two proposed regulatory frameworks but do not end FinCEN’s broader oversight of digital assets. The agency continues to pursue other cryptocurrency-related anti-money laundering measures, including proposed customer identification requirements for permitted payment stablecoin issuers under the GENIUS Act.