{"id":75518,"date":"2026-03-09T14:01:31","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T14:01:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=75518"},"modified":"2026-03-09T14:01:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T14:01:31","slug":"treasurys-genius-act-report-backs-mixers-but-wants-a-new-hold-law-for-crypto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=75518","title":{"rendered":"Treasury\u2019s GENIUS Act Report Backs Mixers, But Wants a New \u2018Hold Law\u2019 For Crypto"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Treasury sent Congress its GENIUS\u2011Act\u2011mandated report on \u201cinnovative tools\u201d to fight crypto\u2011enabled illicit finance.<\/p>\n

A Crypto\u2019s \u201cHold Law\u201d And A Privacy Paradox<\/h2>\n

In a 32-page report submitted to the US Congress this March<\/a>, the U.S. Treasury Department has endorsed lawful uses of crypto mixers (a service that takes in cryptocurrency from many different users, mixes all those coins together, and then sends each user back an equivalent amount from the pool, but from different addresses than the ones they used to deposit) in favor of privacy.<\/p>\n

However, it has also urged lawmakers to create a new \u201cdigital\u2011asset\u2011specific hold law\u201d so platforms can freeze suspicious funds.<\/p>\n

Mixers, Privacy And DPRK<\/p>\n

The report notes favorably that mixing and similar tools \u201ccan be used by lawful users seeking to enhance financial privacy on public blockchains,\u201d including for \u201cprotecting sensitive information about personal wealth, business transactions, or charitable donations from public view. It adds that Treasury \u201crecognizes that privacy\u2011enhancing technologies, including mixers and other obfuscation tools, may serve legitimate purposes when used by compliant actors in line with applicable AML\/CFT requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the other side, the same report also stresses that North Korea\u2019s cyber units and major ransomware crews rely on mixers, cross\u2011chain bridges, and rapid swaps as core infrastructure to launder massive hauls from hacks and fraud. The report cites billions of dollars in stolen digital assets tied to DPRK actors and details how those funds are pushed through mixers and into stablecoins before being bridged and cashed out, using the same tools that ordinary users might pick for privacy.<\/p>\n

What The \u201cHold Law\u201d Would Do<\/p>\n

Therefore, to tackle this paradox, the report proposes a \u201chold law\u201d that would ensure that legitimate, clean, users keep their privacy while unlawful or suspicious activity can be addressed. Under the proposal, crypto exchanges and other regulated platforms would gain a clear and legal \u201cpause button\u201d for suspicious funds. The report recommends that \u201cCongress establish a digital\u2011asset\u2011specific statutory \u2018hold\u2019 authority\u201d that would allow platforms \u201cto temporarily retain or delay the movement of digital assets associated with suspected illicit activity while appropriate legal process is pursued.\u201d Firms could temporarily hold or delay those assets when strong red flags appear, with statutory cover for doing so.<\/p>\n

The idea would be to give law enforcement time to act against ransomware crews, large fraud schemes, or state\u2011sponsored hackers, while limiting the tool to narrowly defined, high\u2011risk cases so routine customer flows are not frozen by default.<\/p>\n

TradFi and Legacy media have often linked mixers to money laundering, with Tornado Cash<\/a> as the obvious cautionary tale. Ethereum co\u2011founder Vitalik Buterin has repeatedly argued that mixers are neutral tools, even saying he used Tornado Cash to make a private donation to Ukraine<\/a>, and is now backing \u2018compliant\u2019 designs like Privacy Pools that aim to protect on\u2011chain privacy without commingling with known dirty funds.<\/p>\n

Another Piece On The GENIUS Act Puzzle<\/h2>\n

The report is part of the broader GENIUS Act framework<\/a>, the law Trump signed to create a federal regime for payment stablecoins and push \u201cinnovative\u201d tools against illicit finance. It fulfills a mandate for Treasury to spell out how AI, digital identity, and blockchain analytics should be used under a risk\u2011based AML approach.<\/p>\n

The report also proposes a preferred tech stack (AI, digital ID, blockchain analytics, APIs) that regulated platforms should deploy under a risk\u2011based AML approach.<\/p>\n

\"Bitcoin,<\/p>\n

Cover image from ChatGPT, BTCUSD chart from Tradingview<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Treasury sent Congress its GENIUS\u2011Act\u2011mandated report on \u201cinnovative tools\u201d to fight crypto\u2011enabled illicit finance. A Crypto\u2019s \u201cHold Law\u201d And A Privacy Paradox In a 32-page report submitted to the US Congress this March, the U.S. Treasury Department has endorsed lawful uses of crypto mixers (a service that takes in cryptocurrency from many different users, mixes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,4,5],"class_list":["post-75518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-crypto","tag-doge","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=75518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75518\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=75518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=75518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=75518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}