FinCEN and the Fed Scrap the $250 Travel Rule Plan, Keeping the $3,000 Line for Crypto Transfers

Published November 9, 2026, 7:07 AM PKT. Based on the Federal Register withdrawal notice FR Doc. 2026-22809 (primary source) and reporting from crypto.news, CoinMarketCap Academy, PYMNTS, Blockchain Reporter, Coindoo and The Crypto Guide.

The United States Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCEN, and the Federal Reserve Board have withdrawn a 2020 proposal that would have forced banks and crypto businesses to collect and share sender and recipient details on cross-border transfers as small as $250. The withdrawal notice was filed on November 6, 2026, and is scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on November 9, 2026, when the withdrawal takes effect, according to crypto.news and CoinMarketCap Academy.

The proposal, published on October 27, 2020 at 85 FR 68005, would have cut the threshold under the Bank Secrecy Act's Recordkeeping Rule and Travel Rule from $3,000 to $250 for transfers that begin or end outside the United States. The $250 figure is one twelfth of $3,000, a cut of 91.67 percent. The threshold never took effect, so nothing changes in what banks, exchanges and money transmitters must collect today. The existing $3,000 line stays in place.

The $250 line that never happened

The withdrawal ends a rulemaking that ran for six years and ten days. FinCEN and the Fed signed the joint withdrawal notice on November 6, 2026, and filed it as Federal Register document 2026-22809, under regulation identifier number 1506-AB41. It is signed by FinCEN Deputy Director Jimmy L. Kirby and Federal Reserve Board Secretary Benjamin McDonough, and it runs six pages, according to Blockchain Reporter.

The notice says the agencies are withdrawing the proposal to give the public certainty that no final rule will be issued without a fresh opportunity for public comment. It states plainly that the agencies will not take further action on the 2020 proposal, according to Blockchain Reporter and The Crypto Guide.

The agencies gave two reasons for shelving it. More than five years had passed since the proposal, and the digital asset industry and its regulatory environment had changed significantly in that time, including the passage of the GENIUS Act stablecoin law in July 2025, according to CoinMarketCap Academy and crypto.news. The agencies left open the possibility of revisiting the requirements through separate rulemaking, but set out no replacement proposal and no timetable.

What the 2020 plan would have done

The 2020 proposal did two things at once. The Recordkeeping Rule, issued jointly by FinCEN and the Fed, requires banks and nonbank financial institutions to collect and retain information on funds transfers that begin or end outside the United States. The Travel Rule, issued by FinCEN alone, requires them to pass that information to the next institution in the payment chain. The proposal would have lowered the threshold for both rules from $3,000 to $250 for cross-border transfers, according to Blockchain Reporter.

It went further than the number. The proposal would also have revised the definitions of payment order and transmittal order to state explicitly that the rules apply to domestic and cross-border transactions involving convertible virtual currency, the category that covers Bitcoin ($BTC) and other cryptocurrencies, and to digital assets that have legal tender status with a recipient, according to Blockchain Reporter and CoinMarketCap Academy.

The proposal drew close to 3,000 public comments, a large majority of them opposing the cut, according to Blockchain Reporter and Coindoo. Commenters objected on financial privacy grounds, over the compliance costs, and over the amount of personal information crypto businesses would have had to collect, according to crypto.news.

What stays at $3,000

Three things do not change on November 9. The $3,000 thresholds in the Recordkeeping Rule and the Travel Rule stay where they were in 2020 and, in substance, where they have been since 1995. Institutions still must file Suspicious Activity Reports, and the notice does not touch that obligation, according to Blockchain Reporter.

FinCEN's 2019 crypto guidance already treats qualifying crypto transfers as subject to the Travel Rule, so regulated crypto businesses keep the obligations they already have, according to Coindoo. For covered transfers of $3,000 or more, the rules impose two duties: keep a record, and pass specified details to the next institution. The withdrawal removes a proposal, not the underlying rules.

The crypto-focused nonprofit Coin Center praised the decision, according to PYMNTS. The Bank Policy Institute published a letter to the banking sector on Friday calling on banks to strengthen their anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing work, writing that modernization in those areas has left material gaps in illicit finance coverage in the digital asset ecosystem, according to PYMNTS.

A second shelved proposal in a month

The Travel Rule withdrawal is the second dormant crypto proposal FinCEN has shelved in about a month. FinCEN withdrew its separate proposal on unhosted wallets and mixers, effective October 6, 2026, under Federal Register document 2026-20430, according to Blockchain Posts. That proposal would have required reporting on crypto sent to personal wallets, and this site covered its withdrawal on October 6.

The pattern is now clear: the agency is clearing old rulemaking off the books while it leans on enforcement instead. The same week it withdrew the $250 plan, FinCEN issued a separate order to cut the offshore exchange MEXC off from the United States financial system, alleging at least $16.7 billion in likely illicit flows between May 2021 and May 2026, including transactions tied to Russian and Iranian sanctions evasion and North Korean money laundering.

The enforcement week that surrounded it

The MEXC order, announced November 6, bars covered United States financial institutions from processing transfers to or from MEXC, including crypto transfers, starting 30 days after the order is published in the Federal Register, according to crypto.news and TokenPost. MEXC said it is reviewing the order, that its platform is operating normally and that customer funds are safe.

The contrast is the story of the week. On one side, a six-year-old plan to pull far more small transfers under federal recordkeeping is dead, and the $3,000 line stands. On the other, the same agency used its existing powers to move against one of the world's 20 largest exchanges by trading volume, and the exchange's users were already reporting frozen deposits and delayed transfers within days, with $126 million in net outflows recorded in the 24 hours spanning the announcement, according to CryptoSlate.

The withdrawal notice is scheduled for Federal Register publication today, November 9, 2026, and it takes effect on publication. Any future change to the thresholds would have to go out for public comment first.

Sources

• Federal Register, withdrawal notice FR Doc. 2026-22809, RIN 1506-AB41, filed November 6, 2026, scheduled for publication November 9, 2026 (primary source: FinCEN and the Federal Reserve Board withdraw the 2020 joint proposal at 85 FR 68005; signed by FinCEN Deputy Director Jimmy L. Kirby and Federal Reserve Board Secretary Benjamin McDonough; the agencies will not take further action on the proposal; effective on publication)
• crypto.news, US Treasury, Fed withdraw $250 crypto Travel Rule proposal. What does it mean?, November 6, 2026 (secondary reporting: withdrawal announced November 6, effective November 9; nearly 3,000 public comments, mostly opposing; GENIUS Act cited as changed landscape; $3,000 threshold remains)
• CoinMarketCap Academy, FinCEN, Fed Withdraw Plan to Cut Travel Rule Threshold to $250, November 2026 (secondary reporting: proposal would have applied the rules explicitly to convertible virtual currency and digital assets with legal tender status; withdrawal scheduled for Federal Register publication November 9)
• PYMNTS, Feds Pull Proposals for Reporting Crypto Transactions, November 9, 2026 (secondary reporting: FinCEN and the Federal Reserve announced the rescission on November 6; Coin Center praised the decision; Bank Policy Institute letter on anti-money laundering modernization)
• Blockchain Reporter, FinCEN, Fed Scrap $250 Travel Rule Threshold, November 2026 (secondary reporting: six-page notice, FR Doc. 2026-22809, six years and ten days after 85 FR 68005; $3,000 thresholds unchanged since 1995 in substance; Suspicious Activity Report duties untouched)
• Coindoo, U.S. Drops $250 Crypto Transfer Plan, Keeps Travel Rule, November 6, 2026 (secondary reporting: nearly 3,000 comments, large majority form letters opposing; practical effect nil for exchanges since the $250 threshold never took effect)
• The Crypto Guide, FinCEN and Fed Withdraw $250 Travel Rule Proposal, November 6, 2026 (secondary reporting: withdrawal notice on public inspection at the Federal Register; agencies say no final rule without fresh public comment)
• CryptoSlate, MEXC sees $126 million outflows as US targets exchange over $16.7 billion in suspected illicit transactions, November 8, 2026 (secondary reporting: $126.03 million in net outflows over 24 hours spanning the FinCEN MEXC announcement; Thailand plans to block Bitget from December 5, 2026)

This article is news reporting and is not investment advice.