US Treasury secretary voices support for new FATF rules regarding crypto exchanges

Steven Mnuchin, secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, is in favor of the latest guidelines handed to cryptocurrency exchanges by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), according to a Bloomberg report.

The global money-laundering watchdog announced last week that cryptocurrency exchanges need to collect and transfer customer information during transactions. Mnuchin said that with these guidelines, the FATF will ensure that “virtual asset service providers do not operate in the dark shadows."

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"This will enable the emerging FinTech sector to stay one-step ahead of rogue regimes and sympathizers of illicit causes searching for avenues to raise and transfer funds without detection," Mnuncin added.

However, execs at leading cryptocurrency companies like Circle, Coinbase and Chainalysis believe that adhering to the FATF guidelines could be costly to implement and force unprecedented collaboration between exchanges.

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Yogita Khatri is a senior reporter at The Block, covering all things crypto. As one of the earliest team members, Yogita has played a pivotal role in breaking numerous stories, exclusives and scoops. With nearly 3,000 articles under her belt, Yogita holds the records as The Block's most-published and most-read author of all time. Prior to joining The Block, Yogita worked at crypto publication CoinDesk and The Economic Times, where she wrote on personal finance. To contact her, email: [email protected]. For her latest work, follow her on X @Yogita_Khatri5.
Isabel is The Block's London and European reporter. She previously reported for Reuters in Madrid and London, following on from her time as a freelance journalist for the Guardian and the New York Times. She has a Bachelors in War Studies from King’s College London and a Master of Philosophy from the University of Oxford. Conflict of Interest: Edward Woodford, the CEO of SeedCX, is Isabel's brother. She does not report on any issues related to Seed or advise other authors in any regard.