FinCEN and the Federal Reserve Withdraw Their 2020 Proposal to Cut Funds-Transfer Recordkeeping and Travel Rule Thresholds to $250 for Cross-Border Transfers
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the Federal Reserve Board are withdrawing their joint proposal of 27 October 2020, according to a notice the Federal Register placed on public inspection at 13:45 UTC on 6 November, for publication on 9 November. The proposal would have lowered from $3,000 to $250 the amount at which banks and nonbank financial institutions must collect and keep information on funds transfers that begin or end outside the United States. FinCEN alone also proposed the same cut to the amount at which they must pass that information to the next institution in the payment chain, under its Travel Rule. The proposal would also have clarified the meaning of "money" in both rules, to specify that they apply to domestic and cross-border transactions in convertible virtual currency and in digital assets with legal tender status. The agencies give two reasons: more than five years have passed, and they want more public feedback before adopting similar changes; and the virtual currency industry has seen significant developments since, with markets maturing and new legal frameworks emerging, such as the payment stablecoin statute enacted on 18 July 2025. They say they will take no further action on the proposal, and that they are withdrawing it so the public can be certain no final rule will be issued without another opportunity for public comment. Commenters, who sent nearly 3,000 comments, generally opposed the lower threshold. On the virtual currency part, the notice says sentiment was mixed: companies providing virtual currency services generally opposed it, while some banks and money services businesses supported it. On 5 October FinCEN announced it was withdrawing two other proposals on convertible virtual currency, one on transactions with unhosted wallets and one on mixing.
Sources:federalregister.gov