The U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) withdrew two long-pending cryptocurrency surveillance proposals on the 5th (local time). The measures targeted mandatory reporting of personal wallet transactions and regulation of overseas mixing transactions. The withdrawal notices were published in the Federal Register on the 6th.

The decision eases the regulatory burden on the crypto industry, but beneath the surface lies the structural instability of the U.S. crypto regulatory framework. While Congress has failed to pass legislation, regulators have rapidly accumulated “rules”—and this withdrawal demonstrates just how easily those rules can be overturned.

Which proposals were withdrawn

The first is the…