The US government is preparing to bring sweeping anti-money laundering powers from the PATRIOT Act into the crypto sector, in a move that could reshape the boundaries of privacy, compliance, and innovation. According to reporting by The Rage, the Treasury Department is seeking to apply Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act—often described as one of the most far-reaching financial surveillance tools—to cryptocurrency activities such as mixers, DeFi protocols, and certain wallet services.
At the center of the initiative is the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), which is drafting a rule that would formally classify crypto mixing services as a “primary money laundering concern.” Such a designation would give the US Treasury the authority to effectively cut off these services from the