FINCEN WITHDRAWS ITS 2020 UNHOSTED WALLET RULE — BANKS WOULD HAVE REPORTED SELF-CUSTODY TRANSFERS OVER $10,000 — FINCEN SAYS IT “WILL NOT TAKE ANY FURTHER ACTION”

FinCEN is withdrawing the rule it proposed in December 2020 for transactions with self-custody wallets. The notice was filed for public inspection on October 5, 2026, publishes October 6, and takes effect on publication. FinCEN says it "will not take any further action" on the proposal.

The 2020 proposal would have made banks and money services businesses report any transaction over $10,000, or several adding up to more than $10,000 in 24 hours, when the other side used an unhosted wallet, and verify their customer's identity. Above $3,000, they would have had to keep records. An unhosted wallet is one no financial institution holds. Yours, if you hold your own keys.

FinCEN's stated reason is one line: it wants digital asset rules that are "fit-for-purpose." For almost six years, the proposal hung over every move from an exchange to a hardware wallet. It was never final, but it was never gone either.

Now it is gone. Any new version would have to start over with a new public proposal. Keys you hold were never the bank's to report. At the time of this writing, bitcoin was $86,326.