U.S. financial regulators have announced the withdrawal of a proposal that would have sharply expanded the number of cross-border transfers subject to recordkeeping requirements, including changes addressing cryptocurrency transactions.

In a November 6 announcement, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network said it was withdrawing the proposal jointly with the Federal Reserve Board. The plan would have lowered the relevant threshold from $3,000 to $250 for funds transfers that begin or end outside the United States.

Related reporting: Community Banks Sue OCC Over Crypto Trust Charters

The action concerns an uncompleted 2020 proposal. It does not abolish the existing travel rule or create a general exemption from anti-money-laundering requirements for crypto businesses.

Publication is scheduled for November 9

The Federal Register’s public-inspection page lists the withdrawal as unpublished and scheduled for November 9. Its notice specifies that the withdrawal takes effect on publication. The November 6 announcement and the scheduled formal publication are therefore separate steps.

The existing recordkeeping and travel-rule provisions require covered financial institutions to retain information about qualifying transfers and pass specified information to other institutions in the payment chain. The proposed lower threshold would have extended those duties to many smaller cross-border transactions.

The six-page withdrawal notice also describes a proposed clarification that the rules’ definition of money would cover convertible virtual currencies and digital assets with legal-tender status. That clarification is part of the proposal being withdrawn.

Regulators cite an aging proposal and a changing market

FinCEN and the Fed said more than five years had passed since the proposal was issued and that fresh public feedback would be useful before adopting similar amendments. They also pointed to developments in crypto markets and emerging legal frameworks. The notice says the agencies will not take further action on this proposal.

The Block reported on November 6 that industry groups welcomed the decision. Coin Center had objected to the privacy implications of bringing more ordinary transactions into the reporting framework. Crypto Council for Innovation chief executive Ji Hun Kim argued that the lower threshold would have imposed excessive burdens on institutions.

Those are the groups’ assessments. The practical regulatory result is narrower: this proposed expansion is being removed from the rulemaking pipeline, while the underlying requirements continue.

Another rollback follows October withdrawals

FinCEN had already announced two other withdrawals on October 5. One concerned additional recordkeeping, verification and reporting for certain transactions involving self-hosted wallets. The other would have imposed a special measure concerning convertible virtual-currency mixing. FinCEN linked those decisions to the administration’s deregulatory agenda and its review of digital-asset rules.

The latest announcement adds cross-border transfer thresholds to that sequence. Each withdrawal addresses a particular proposal, so the actions should not be combined into a claim that U.S. crypto transaction monitoring has ended.

For businesses reviewing compliance obligations, the relevant distinction is between a rule already in force and a proposed amendment that never became final. Friday’s announcement removes this path to a $250 threshold; it does not announce a replacement threshold or a new timetable for a different proposal.

Prepared with AI assistance. The lead image is an AI-generated conceptual illustration, not a photograph of an actual event.