FinCEN and the Federal Reserve proposes to drop the transaction reporting threshold under the international “Travel Rule”
A new proposal from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the Federal Reserve would lower that to $250 for international transfers, including those made with cryptocurrencies.
Halong Bay in Vietnam | Courtesy of Tour in Ha Noi
As noted in the proposed rule change document, the amendments “would reduce this threshold from $3,000 to $250 for funds transfers and transmittals of funds that begin or end outside the United States.”
As well, the document includes a clarification to the rules to ensure that they are clearly applied to transactions involving cryptocurrencies and digital assets.
The document wrote:
“The Agencies are also proposing to clarify the meaning of “money” as used in these same rules to ensure that the rules apply to domestic and cross-border transactions involving convertible virtual currency This document is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on 10/27/2020 and available online at federalregister.gov/d/2020-23756, and on govinfo.gov (“CVC”), which is a medium of exchange (such as cryptocurrency) that either has an equivalent value as currency, or acts as a substitute for currency, but lacks legal tender status. The Agencies further propose to clarify that these rules apply to domestic and cross-border transactions involving digital assets that have legal tender status.”
FinCEN data involving 2,000 “suspicious activity reports” from 2016 to 2019 referenced 1.29 million underlying transmittals of funds, with 99% of the transactions either beginning or ending in the US, according to a notice in the Federal Register. The data shows the mean and median dollar value of the transfers were $509 and $255, respectively, according to the filing. About 71% of the transmittals were below $500, for a total of more than $179 million.
The threshold for domestic transactions would remain unchanged at $3,000. Comments will be accepted for 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.
Read more:
- FinCEN: The Suspicious Cryptocurrency Activities Are On The Rise
- BNY Mellon Has Been Accused Of Playing A “Central Role” In The $4 Billion Ponzi Scheme OneCoin