Coinbase’s Armstrong Urges Users To Oppose FinCen Changes

Coinbase’s Armstrong urges all users to start opposing the FinCen rules that got changed which require crypto exchanges to enforce KYC checks on the customers’ wallets so let’s read more in today’s Coinbase news.

Coinbase’s Armstrong urges the users to join in him the fight against the new rule changes and penned an open letter where he encourages the exchanges’ users to oppose the changes as well. these changes were proposed by FinCEN and require all crypto businesses to impose KYC checks on the customer’s private wallets. Armstrong argued that the regulation is being rushed and the affected businesses are not given enough time to voice their concerns.

The @USTreasury is proposing crypto regs that will force exchanges to collect, store and share with the gov. personal information associated with crypto transactions. If you believe this to be an intrusion on your privacy, join us in sharing your concerns https://t.co/DFeEPvnouy

— Coinbase (@coinbase) December 30, 2020

Brian Armstrong, the CEO of the crypto exchange Coinbase published an open letter where he encouraged Coinbase users to speak out against the changes in crypto regulation proposed by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. He wrote:

 “The U.S. Department of Treasury is proposing onerous new regulations that will drastically increase the amount of personal information crypto exchanges will have to collect, store and share with the government. We encourage you to voice your concerns directly with the U.S. Department of Treasury by this Monday, January 4, 2021.”

FinCEN is a part of the US Treasury Department which recently proposed new rules that require banks and all money service businesses to keep records and to submit reports to verify the identity of the customers who make transactions. The proposal faced criticism from privacy advocates as well as the Electronic Frontier Foundation for creating privacy risks in the entire industry. Armstrong voiced similar concerns and called the proposal a substantial intrusion into the privacy of the users without a good reason.

Everyone who owns crypto should start to be actively engaged on these issues.

An open crypto network is good for the world, it would be a real shame to have it's potential cut off with bad policy.

This last month has shown how much work we have to do on education/advocacy. https://t.co/wPnSfFfQjO

— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) December 29, 2020

He noted that the changes are happening quickly and the proposal came after a long period of informal discussions with the industry and the public with more than 60 days left for the public to comment on it. He argued that the interested parties had little opportunity to discuss the concerns with the Treasury and were only given 15 days to share their opinion:

 “This is not how the process should work. New regulation should only be made after a thorough and fair process. We view it as our obligation to you, and the entire crypto community, to encourage thoughtful comments and feedback about this proposed new rule which represents a rushed attempt to impose unnecessary new requirements on our industry and customers.”