U.S. Treasury News: FinCEN Withdraws Crypto Wallet, Mixer Rules

[Chibit01]

Will the perception of bitcoin mixer by most people change now? A lot of people, mostly outside this forum, and few others on this forum believe a mixer is a money laundering tool, as per the FinCEN general description of what a mixer is for, but as the argument has been going on for years, long before bitcoin, we have other financial monetary services which have majorly been used by criminals but yet they are not publicly declared to be money laundering tool.

I was in a discussion with someone relating to bitcoin and mixers purpose which made me run research and stumble into this thread; Bitcoin mixing is NOT money laundering, per se by BlackHatCoiner,  where I have spent hours reading the opinions and debates of others, with @franky1, being a strong supporter who condemns mixers with a statement which pointing at mixer users to be criminals trying to legitimate their money.

Today I just happened to stumble onto news regarding FinCEN's withdrawal of its 2020 treasury proposal, which has remained pending ever since then till now, and I believe their stand on the mixer also contributed heavily to why most regard it as criminal too. They claimed their decision was based on public opinion and innocent people also use Bitcoin mixer for the purpose of privacy, nothing more.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is withdrawing the following proposed rules that would have imposed certain regulatory requirements on financial institutions related to certain digital assets, specifically convertible virtual currencies:      

a proposal that would have imposed recordkeeping, verification, and reporting requirements on certain transactions involving convertible virtual currencies and unhosted wallets and
a proposal that would have imposed a special measure with regards to convertible virtual currency mixing.
FinCEN has considered the comments submitted in response to these proposals and is withdrawing them as part of the Trump Administration’s deregulatory agenda and ongoing efforts to ensure digital asset regulations are fit-for-purpose.

FinCEN Announces Withdrawals of Proposed Digital Asset Related Rules
Those who don't have idea of the proposal that condemns mixing service to money laundering tool can take a look: https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2026-20429.pdf

[SeriouslyGiveaway]

Will the perception of bitcoin mixer by most people change now? A lot of people, mostly outside this forum, and few others on this forum believe a mixer is a money laundering tool, as per the FinCEN general description of what a mixer is for, but as the argument has been going on for years, long before bitcoin, we have other financial monetary services which have majorly been used by criminals but yet they are not publicly declared to be money laundering tool.

It's a grey area and a grey business.

It's truly right that mixer is not a crime and service is not only for criminals but a mixer can have quick change in legal status from legal to illegal if a big fund is laundered in their mixing platform. Like exch.cx exchange runs for a long time with a signature campaign here before it got problems.

https://securityaffairs.com/177706/cyber-crime/german-police-seized-exch-crypto-exchange.html

“Among other things, a portion of the 1.5 billion US dollars stolen from the crypto exchange Bybit, which was hacked on February 21, 2025, is said to have been exchanged via eXch.”

In February, 2025, Lazarus APT stole $1.5B from Bybit, it is the largest cryptocurrency heist ever.

It's like if Lazarus uses service of any anonymous exchange, it will have big problems legally.

[sergiorus]

I'm 100% convinced it won't affect the way centralised exchanges treat mixers and this is where the problems come from for the ordinary people.

As long as people are scared their funds will be frozen when they deposit them onto an exchange to complete a trade or cash-out some fiat, mixers and other privacy enabling tools will be avoided by the masses.

[Mrbluntzy]

Now that those proposals has been withdrawn, does it mean that the U.S. government has declared Bitcoin mixers legal?  The answer is no, it's just a proposed source of additional regulatory restrictions on mixers that is gone, the government does not still consider it a good tool that people should use freely, they don't care about your privacy. However, it's good for the mixer ecosystem that FinCEN has withdrawn their proposal but as someone noted that it doesn't means that exchanges would not treat mixer the way they have always treated it.

[Cryptomultiplier]

This news doesn't mean mixers are free from stigmatization because they are still very much banned from usage by regulators and banks and exchanges that would immediately flag or freeze ones funds if they use mixers.

Developers may be relieved from strict compliance rules by this news from FinCEN, but it doesn't change anything unless privacy becomes automatically integrated into exchanges and the government openly allows the use of mixers.

[JiiBs]

Today I just happened to stumble onto news regarding FinCEN's withdrawal of its 2020 treasury proposal, which has remained pending ever since then till now, and I believe their stand on the mixer also contributed heavily to why most regard it as criminal too. They claimed their decision was based on public opinion and innocent people also use Bitcoin mixer for the purpose of privacy, nothing more.

I wonder how large there sample size was to constitute the majority on the public opinion. Relying on such substandard data cause seems like a lot of rendering unprofessionalism to what they actually do.
Of course given the nature of cryptocurrency and what it can accord you, people are going to use it and the variety of services within its scope for a lot of things, some of them legitimate and others are not.
What follows is how they can introduce regulations to it and what would constitute flags for suspicion. I don’t think it would be easy but, it’s still the job.

[BlackHatCoiner]

The funny part is in the withdrawal notice itself. The proposed definition of "mixing" covered things like using single-use addresses, splitting transactions, or swapping one coin for another. So by that logic, every wallet that generates a fresh change address was a money laundering tool, and so is half this forum.

FinCEN still says criminals use mixers and that they'll keep watching and "may take appropriate steps in the future". Do not make the mistake to think the administration is going pro-privacy.

[Spaceman1000$]

Now that those proposals has been withdrawn, does it mean that the U.S. government has declared Bitcoin mixers legal?  The answer is no, it's just a proposed source of additional regulatory restrictions on mixers that is gone, the government does not still consider it a good tool that people should use freely, they don't care about your privacy. However, it's good for the mixer ecosystem that FinCEN has withdrawn their proposal but as someone noted that it doesn't means that exchanges would not treat mixer the way they have always treated it.

Them withdrawing their proposal doesn't change the fact that the damage has already been done to mixers, there is a growing perception out there that a lot of mixers are being used for fraudulent activities, a lot of people have subtly withdrawn themselves from the services of Mixers, FinCEN were part of those that pushed that propaganda and it created a lot of negative saturation about mixer. This withdrawal statement has little or no impact on what has already been said. For everything that has advantage also has a disadvantage, people have a right to their privacy and is what mixer has provided, there's no doubt about the fact that some persons will want to dribble the system but then you cannot throw the baby away with the bath water.

[Chibit01]

FinCEN still says criminals use mixers and that they'll keep watching and "may take appropriate steps in the future". Do not make the mistake to think the administration is going pro-privacy.

I won't even try it, to trust them in that, no matter how much they try to make it look as if they are hearing and listening to the opinion of the people, the fact that they can always wake up and condemn whatever they want to and consider it criminal is even warning us to be careful, my only concern about the news is that proposal being among what shaped some persons' idea of how the see bitcoin mixer have been withdrawn maybe it's time for them to have a rethink.

[joniboini]

my only concern about the news is that proposal being among what shaped some persons' idea of how the see bitcoin mixer have been withdrawn maybe it's time for them to have a rethink.

If they've such a strong opinion long before this proposed rules exist, I don't think they'll change much to be honest. I've seen similar discussions on other fields where people disagree with decisions from the governments on certain points, and instead it makes their beliefs even stronger. Not to mention they just distrust governments in general. I won't be surprised if the same thing happens here.

[Zlantann]

I won't even try it, to trust them in that, no matter how much they try to make it look as if they are hearing and listening to the opinion of the people, the fact that they can always wake up and condemn whatever they want to and consider it criminal is even warning us to be careful, my only concern about the news is that proposal being among what shaped some persons' idea of how the see bitcoin mixer have been withdrawn maybe it's time for them to have a rethink.

Another reason why government cannot be trusted is that policies are ever-changing. The presidential tenure of Joe Biden cracked down on several privacy tools. Donald Trump's administration have been coming up with some pro crypto laws. Nobody knows who the next president will be and what will be his perception of the crypto industry.

FinCEN's withdrawal these proposed rules is a good news. I guess that the number of people who use privacy tools for criminal activities are smaller than those that use it legitimately.

[Zoomic]

I'm 100% convinced it won't affect the way centralised exchanges treat mixers and this is where the problems come from for the ordinary people.

As long as people are scared their funds will be frozen when they deposit them onto an exchange to complete a trade or cash-out some fiat, mixers and other privacy enabling tools will be avoided by the masses.

It'll not affect how centralized exchanges treat mixers because the withdrawal doesn't mean mixers are now being declared legal or suddenly becoming free from scrutiny. There's still be concerns on how they're used especially by regulators.

The fear risking their funds from being frozen is still there and until it goes away, many people will still stay away from mixers irrespective of what the regulations say.

[snowpega]

There are many things that are designed for a product and a useful task for people's ease or services.
And if a bad person uses it to take advantage of it in a negative way, does that mean that the service has to be illegal? Obviously not, right? The same example fits here in the case of mixers, in my point of view. Many innocent people use it, and evil people also use it to perform their tasks anonymously to escape the traditional system.

But this never means it should be illegal, as many good people are also using it, right? The meaning of saying is that there is nothing that is designed for evil in this way. This totally depends on what kind of person is using it. Same, like, were weapons designed to murder people? Obviously not. It was designed for security and safety purposes, but evil people use it for criminal activity. So does that mean the use of weapons has to be stopped everywhere? CMIIW!

[Dogedegen]

The funny part is in the withdrawal notice itself. The proposed definition of "mixing" covered things like using single-use addresses, splitting transactions, or swapping one coin for another. So by that logic, every wallet that generates a fresh change address was a money laundering tool, and so is half this forum.

I find it weird how these things end up happening. Who are the people who are working at these organizations and how is it possible that they make such big errors? We are not talking about complicated subjects here or definitions like how a computer works in details, we are talking about basic concepts from Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. I find it weird how despite so many years and large funding, many organizations from different parts of the world still get the basics wrong.

FinCEN still says criminals use mixers and that they'll keep watching and "may take appropriate steps in the future". Do not make the mistake to think the administration is going pro-privacy.

I won't even try it, to trust them in that, no matter how much they try to make it look as if they are hearing and listening to the opinion of the people, the fact that they can always wake up and condemn whatever they want to and consider it criminal is even warning us to be careful, my only concern about the news is that proposal being among what shaped some persons' idea of how the see bitcoin mixer have been withdrawn maybe it's time for them to have a rethink.

Even if that is not the case, such steps should always be celebrated. We must not be greedy with our wants and desires of an Utopian world, we should be happy for any advancements that we get. As we see in the last decade the world has fallen down in many areas, and it continues to develop in bad ways. It does not even matter much which side of the politics is ruling, left or right, many decisions are bad and only create more problems. So I am happy about this small but important change.

[PrivacyG]

FinCEN still says criminals use mixers and that they'll keep watching and "may take appropriate steps in the future". Do not make the mistake to think the administration is going pro-privacy.

I know what would definitely prevent Mixers from ever being used by criminals again.  And you do too.  It is the universal crime ending answer.

Know Your Customer!

[Dogedegen]

FinCEN still says criminals use mixers and that they'll keep watching and "may take appropriate steps in the future". Do not make the mistake to think the administration is going pro-privacy.

I know what would definitely prevent Mixers from ever being used by criminals again.  And you do too.  It is the universal crime ending answer.

Know Your Customer!

I know you are being sarcastic, but I wonder if some of them seriously think this. I know they have been trying to push for KYC in more and more areas, but for some kind of content it does not work at all and for preventing crime relating to crypto even less so. It is one thing to push these ideas forward maybe for hidden malicious reasons, but it is another to actually believe in such absurdities. In 2026 you can purchase full KYC for any crypto platform from someone from Bangladesh or Nigeria for $50, and it would be the same with mixers or any other tool to improve privacy if KYC is imposed. Normal people would be damaged, any criminals that have any knowledge would continue to use them and commit crimes without any issue. $50 is quite cheap for the money that they are laundering..

[fullfitlarry]

Now that those proposals has been withdrawn, does it mean that the U.S. government has declared Bitcoin mixers legal?  The answer is no, it's just a proposed source of additional regulatory restrictions on mixers that is gone, the government does not still consider it a good tool that people should use freely, they don't care about your privacy. However, it's good for the mixer ecosystem that FinCEN has withdrawn their proposal but as someone noted that it doesn't means that exchanges would not treat mixer the way they have always treated it.

Them withdrawing their proposal doesn't change the fact that the damage has already been done to mixers, there is a growing perception out there that a lot of mixers are being used for fraudulent activities, a lot of people have subtly withdrawn themselves from the services of Mixers, FinCEN were part of those that pushed that propaganda and it created a lot of negative saturation about mixer. This withdrawal statement has little or no impact on what has already been said. For everything that has advantage also has a disadvantage, people have a right to their privacy and is what mixer has provided, there's no doubt about the fact that some persons will want to dribble the system but then you cannot throw the baby away with the bath water.

I disagree though, I don't think that there is some kind of damage to us, on the contrary, there has been a lot of mixers coming in the crypto space in the last couple of months alone. Which means that there are still demand from us and we are still going to used it.

The thing though, if I'm not mistaken, even without this approval, some ABC agency can still request from any exchange any KYC that they suspected as criminals. So still the same thing to me.

[SpadIta]

Privacy tools still sit in a grey area depending on jurisdiction, so I'd keep my own records of where coins came from and not assume the rules won't change again.

[SeriouslyGiveaway]

It's discussed in the Mixer restrictions thread and I think it will be a best place for this discussion. What changed from the US government and what might be changed by the forum admins but I don't expect it to come too soon.

If anything to be changed with forum rules on Mixers and their advertisements here, I expect such changes will be only months after a next Presidency since January 2028. Likely theymos and Cyrus will have to wait for more solid policy from the US government, only Trump administration is not enough, then consult with lawyers before doing any considerable forum policy change.

[d5000]

So by that logic, every wallet that generates a fresh change address was a money laundering tool, and so is half this forum.

If that was a commonplace definition by authorities around the world, it would be a good idea to ban address reuse in the Bitcoin protocol, so everybody is forced to "mix" coins. To my knowledge here is no reason besides convenience to re-use addresses.