Finally the inauguration of Joseph R Biden, 46th president of the United States took place on 20th January, and the whole event concluded without so much as a sneeze. He didn’t waste time when he sat down at the Resolute desk for the first time, signing a swathe of executive orders that overturned some of his predecessors more contentious policies, such as leaving the Paris Climate Agreement. As of yesterday the USA is back in, for which many are thankful.
However, there was something else he did that is of great interest to the cryptocurrency community. He put a freeze on FinCEN’s proposed crypto wallet regulations proposed by former Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin, a known ‘hater’ of crypto. These rules would be detrimental to the crypto industry and were already seen as controversial.
Cointelegraph says: “The announcement came in a White House memorandum for the heads of various federal agencies, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) included.” As it remarks, the wallet proposal wasn’t specifically mentioned, but it comes under the general edict.
Mnuchin’s seldf-hosted wallet proposal, which alarmed the crypto industry, if passed, “would require that banks and money service businesses submit reports, keep records, and verify the identity of customers who make transactions to and from private cryptocurrency wallets.”
This goes against the basic philosophy of decentralization, and as Jack Dorsey said, “counterparty name and address collection should not be required for cryptocurrency just as it’s not required for cash today.”
Other critics of the proposal also pointed out that anyone using smart contracts, as one example, couldn’t comply with the proposed regulation, because “smart contracts do not contain name or address information.”
Now we must wait and see what Janet Yellen, the new Treasury Secretary will do. She is not known for being a massive fan of crypto, but some industry insiders see her in a positive light. Compound Finance General Council Jake Chervinsky is optimistic, saying: “We fought hard & earned the right to take a breath & reset. Janet Yellen isn’t Steve Mnuchin. I’m optimistic.” He believes that unlike Mnuchin, Yellen will be more open to learning about crypto and listening to its experts when it comes to making decisions about new regulations. Furthermore, as everyone has been pointing out for weeks now, Biden appointed Gary Gensler to head up the Securities and Exchange commission, and he appears to be much more sympathetic to the idea of decentralization than those who went before him.
It’s early days, but it would seem that we are entering a period of compromise, rational thinking and cool heads, and this may just be what the US crypto industry needs to progress.