Treasury's 2020 Self-Hosted Wallet Rule Was Rushed Out Fast
A late-2020 Treasury proposal would have forced exchanges to collect more data on self-hosted wallet transactions, and the public got only 15 days to respond.
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Key takeaways
- On Dec. 18, 2020, Mnuchin's Treasury announced a plan targeting transactions with self-hosted wallets.
- The proposal would have made exchanges and other financial institutions collect more information on those transactions.
- The public comment window was just 15 days, right before Christmas.
- The announcement came as Donald Trump was preparing to leave the White House.
Fifteen days. That's how long the public had to comment on a Treasury plan unveiled a week before Christmas 2020. Steven Mnuchin's department wanted crypto exchanges and other financial institutions to collect more information on transactions involving wallets people hold themselves.
What was proposed
On paper, it was simple. Move crypto between an exchange and a wallet you control, and the institution on the other end would have to gather more data on that transaction. Self-custody is the thing many crypto users prize most. It would've landed squarely inside the regulatory frame.
The timing
The announcement hit on Dec. 18, 2020. Donald Trump was on his way out of the White House. The holidays were days away. Fifteen days is short for any significant financial rule, and this comment period ran straight through the break. Convenient? You decide.
That's what drew attention then, and it's why the story is back now. The source article's framing is that the rule was proposed and then effectively buried. What happened next isn't in the material I have, so I won't guess.
Why it matters
Hold your own keys? This is the kind of rule that decides how easy it is to move funds to and from exchanges. More data collection means more friction. It could also mean more privacy exposure for anyone using a self-hosted wallet. The 2020 episode shows how fast policy can get pushed out when the political calendar is tight. Watch for any revival of the idea. And ask the obvious question: would a longer comment window have changed the outcome?
Source: CryptoSlate
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