In its new 32-page report to Congress, the US Treasury Department sees cryptocurrency mixers not only as tools used for illegal purposes. Unlike the harsh stance it took in previous years, the Ministry pointed out that mixers could also be used for legitimate privacy reasons. The US Treasury plays an important role among the main institutions responsible for overseeing the financial order in the country, and its report has revived the debate between the crypto community and regulators.
Mixers and Privacy Reasons
The report emphasized that mixer solutions can be used to provide privacy for some users due to the transparent nature of transactions taking place on the blockchain. It was stated that both individuals may want to keep their financial history private and companies’ need to protect their payment processes from their competitors creates this need. In addition, protecting privacy in daily transactions such as donations made with cryptocurrencies and routine shopping stood out as an important motivation.
Treasury Department’s Technical Distinction
The ministry report made a clear distinction between custodial mixers, which are kept under central control and pool user assets, and decentralized or non-custodial mixers, where user funds are not under the supervision of any central structure. While legal discussions about these technologies have been going on for a long time in the USA, it is still not clear how decentralized protocols will be evaluated within the legal framework. It was noteworthy that the Ministry of Treasury stated this distinction in the official report.
On the other hand, the report did not propose a new restriction on non-storage mixers, and it was seen that some record-keeping obligations that created controversy last year have not been implemented for now. At this point, it is evaluated that the points not covered by the regulatory text also carry a strategic message.
National Security Agenda and New Measures
Although the new report recognizes the privacy-enhancing aspects of mixers, it does not hold back on concerns about illegal activity. It was stated that groups affiliated with North Korea, in particular, recently used mixers in crypto asset thefts and moved a total of $ 2.8 billion in resources by hiding their traces in the 2024-2025 period. It is stated that this amount is included in the category of national security risks and goes beyond the scope of financial crime.
In order to prevent such activities, the Ministry has proposed a new regulation that will give financial institutions the authority to temporarily freeze suspicious digital assets without legal liability. It is evaluated that this initiative will provide an operational solution, especially for situations that cannot keep up with the speed of judicial decision and follow-up processes.
In addition, the activation of this authority aims to make the job of malicious actors, especially state-backed, difficult by immediately blocking asset transfers when suspicious transactions are detected. The fact that US authorities placed special emphasis on North Korea-based attacks once again underlined the seriousness of the risk.
While, on the one hand, the legal and technological dimensions of privacy tools are emphasized, on the other hand, the harsh stance taken against actors that pose a national security threat and financial laundering activities continues. This two-way structure of the report shows that the USA has adopted a more cautious and multi-dimensional line in its regulatory approach.
Despite all these developments, it remains open for now how the current regulatory framework will become clearer for decentralized protocol developers or whether this approach will bring a permanent policy change.
