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U.S. Bill Seeks to Protect Unhosted Crypto Wallets From Regulators

source-logo  coindesk.com 15 February 2022 21:50, UTC

A proposed U.S. bill seeks to prevent government agencies from limiting a person’s use of self-hosted cryptocurrency wallets, a technology that has been in the crosshairs of regulators over the past year. A copy of the bill was provided to CoinDesk.

  • The bill was introduced on Feb. 15 by Congressman Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), a member of the Blockchain Caucus, and would ban agencies from “restricting the use of convertible virtual currency by a person to purchase goods or services for the person’s own use, and other purposes.”
  • The legislation also prevents agencies from prohibiting users from “conducting transactions through a self-hosted wallet.”
  • Self-hosted or unhosted crypto wallets have been targeted by U.S. regulations over the course of the past year.
  • In late 2020, the U.S. Treasury Department proposed a controversial rule that would require crypto exchanges to collect personal details, including names and home addresses, from users wanting to transfer their cryptocurrency into a private wallet.
  • The unhosted crypto wallet rule was driven by then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who has since handed the reins over to Janet Yellen, though that hasn’t killed the possibility of the rule.

Read more: A Crypto Wallet by Any Other Name…

coindesk.com