The controversial draft anti-money laundering/know-your-customer (AML/KYC) crypto compliance regulations proposed by the US Treasury Department and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is continuing to draw criticism from critics, who claim the agency is acting out of its remit in its bid to regulate the sector.
The crypto advocacy group Coin Center has published a second open letter to the agency. The new correspondence accuses the regulator of creating further chaos and disregarding public feedback.
The group accused the legislation’s architects of “rushed” and “chaotic” decision-making.
Coin Center wrote,
“To quickly review administrative law, the Treasury Department, as a division of the executive branch, is not constitutionally empowered to make laws. We sometimes call the rules that are made by executive agencies ‘laws,’ but they are not laws; they are rules that support and implement the laws that are actually passed by Congress.”
Meanwhile, various crypto industry players have already unveiled their plans to mount a challenge against the regulation in court if the need arises.
Brian Armstrong, the CEO and Co-Founder of American crypto exchange powerhouse Coinbase, said that his company was planning to join the venture firm Andreessen Horowitz in mounting a legal challenge against the regulation if it is accepted.
Referring to Kathryn Haun, a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz and the Independent Director at Coinbase, Armstrong tweeted that as “a former federal prosecutor,” Haun “would not propose challenging this in court unless she felt there was a strong case.”
Armstrong also wrote on Twitter,
“It’s ill-advised and didn’t follow proper procedure. FinCEN should revisit in the new administration, engaging with industry, if it still wants to pursue something in this area. It’s not even clear they should, by the way.”
At the time of writing (14:10 UTC), over 7,100 comments have been submitted on the draft via a dedicated webpage.
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