What the heck happened last week? SEC Broker Enforcement, Treasury Broker Rule, and SCOTUS Broke Chevron.

by  Peter Van Valkenburgh July 2, 2024

It’s an unfortunate habit, but federal agencies tend to announce enforcement actions and rulemakings at the end of the day on Fridays, especially Fridays before a holiday. For crypto, last...

New crypto tax reporting obligations took effect on new year’s day

by  Jerry Brito January 2, 2024

We wish you all a very happy new year! Unfortunately, the new year also brings a new law that is not only unconstitutional but also virtually impossible to comply with...

In an effort to close perceived loopholes, Treasury recommends massive expansion of warrantless surveillance and power to sanction open-source software

by  Landon Zinda November 30, 2023

This week, the U.S. Department of the Treasury sent a letter to the heads of the Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees following a briefing on how Hamas and...

There’s a centuries-old standard that tells us when regulation of crypto is justified

by  Peter Van Valkenburgh November 9, 2023

Today Coin Center submitted a comment letter in the Treasury Department’s ongoing rulemaking on the definition of “broker” for third-party tax reporting purposes. In brief, we argue that the definition...

Comments to the Department of Treasury on “Gross Proceeds and Basis Reporting by Brokers and Determination of Amount Realized and Basis for Digital Asset Transactions”

by  Peter Van Valkenburgh November 9, 2023

A direct download of this comment is available here. To whom it may concern: Coin Center is an independent nonprofit research and advocacy center focused on the public policy issues...

Treasury’s proposed ‘broker’ rules expand surveillance well beyond a ‘third party doctrine’ that’s already stretched thin

by  Peter Van Valkenburgh September 14, 2023

Late last month the Treasury Department published a proposed regulation to define when a person in crypto qualifies as a “broker” under the tax code and therefore must collect personal...

Treasury’s new DeFi risk assessment relies on ill-fitting frameworks and makes potentially unconstitutional recommendations

by  Peter Van Valkenburgh April 7, 2023

Yesterday the Treasury Department released a “DeFi Illicit Finance Risk Assessment.” While the report does not announce any new or changed policy, and correctly acknowledges the much larger illicit finance...

How does Tornado Cash work?

by  Alex Wade & Michael Lewellen & Peter Van Valkenburgh August 25, 2022

1. Introduction In August 2022, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Tornado Cash, adding 45 Ethereum addresses to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List of sanctioned...

Analysis: What is and what is not a sanctionable entity in the Tornado Cash case

by  Jerry Brito & Peter Van Valkenburgh August 15, 2022

Last Monday, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) made a designation adding Tornado Cash to the Specially Designated Nationals And Blocked Persons (SDN) List that it administers....

Comments to the Department of Treasury Regarding Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets

by  Peter Van Valkenburgh August 3, 2022

This comment describes concretely why digital assets, and cryptocurrencies in particular, are essential to the operation of decentralized systems, and what the actual benefits of decentralization and disintermediation are for...