FinCEN and the Fed drop the $250 travel-rule plan: the $3,000 threshold for cross-border transfers stays

What the 2020 proposal would have done

The notice, Federal Register document 2026-22809, describes the original plan. On October 27, 2020, FinCEN and the Board published a joint proposal (85 FR 68005) with three parts:

The Recordkeeping Rule makes banks and nonbank financial institutions collect and retain information on funds transfers. It is issued jointly by the Board and FinCEN. The Travel Rule makes them transmit that information to the next institution in the payment chain, and FinCEN alone issues it. Domestic transfers were never part of the threshold cut.

None of the three parts will now go ahead. The notice ends: "Because the Agencies no longer intend to issue a final rule with respect to this proposal, the NPRM published at 85 FR 68005 is hereby withdrawn." It is signed by Jimmy L. Kirby, FinCEN's deputy director, and Benjamin McDonough, secretary of the Board.

Why the regulators pulled it

The agencies give two reasons.

First, more than five years have passed since the proposal. They say more public feedback would be useful before any similar change, and that withdrawing it gives "certainty to the public that no final rule will be issued without an additional opportunity for public comment."

Second, they point to changes in crypto since 2020. "CVC markets have continued to mature, and new legal frameworks are emerging," the notice says, citing the GENIUS Act, the federal stablecoin law enacted on July 18, 2025. Any future change to these rules that touches crypto should be weighed against those developments "to ensure that such amendments are fit for purpose", the agencies wrote. They also cite the July 2025 report of the President's Working Group on Digital Asset Markets.

The notice also summarises the nearly 3,000 comments the 2020 proposal drew. Most were form letters. Commenters generally opposed the lower threshold. They argued that $250 would burden smaller institutions, disrupt people sending remittances overseas and could push customers toward less regulated services. They also said it would sharply raise the number of transfers covered and expose institutions to more liability for holding personal data. Several said the threshold should go up instead, because $3,000 was set in 1995.

On the crypto part, views split. Companies providing crypto services and their trade groups opposed it, citing technical limits and the lack of an international messaging standard for crypto transfers. Some banks, money services businesses and their associations supported it.

The second crypto proposal withdrawn in five weeks

This is the second 2020 crypto rulemaking FinCEN has dropped since early October. On October 6, 2026, it withdrew the December 23, 2020 proposal on "unhosted" wallets (85 FR 83840, withdrawal notice 2026-20430). That plan would have made banks and money services businesses verify customers and report crypto transfers above $10,000 with self-custody wallets or wallets in jurisdictions FinCEN identified, and keep records for such transfers above $3,000. FinCEN said it would take no further action on it, and cited the same White House report.

Read together, the two notices show the two big 2020 crypto reporting plans are now both off the table. Neither notice introduces a replacement. Both leave the rules in force exactly as they were.

Where the news first surfaced

Odaily reported the withdrawal at 04:59 SGT on November 8, citing a post by Bitcoin News on X. Its summary matches the Federal Register text: the 2020 plan to cut the threshold from $3,000 to $250 for transfers starting or ending outside the US, and to clarify that the rules cover convertible virtual currency, is withdrawn, and the $3,000 threshold stays for now. The public inspection page lists FinCEN as the filing agency and November 9 as the publication date.

Timeline

The proposal sat for six years and thirteen days between its publication and its withdrawal date. In that time the threshold it targeted did not move.

What this means for exchange users

The notice changes no rule, so there is nothing to switch on or off in your account. The practical points are about what does not happen.

1. Cross-border bank transfers keep the $3,000 line. If you fund an exchange account abroad with a US wire, or receive a wire from abroad, the federal collection and travel-rule obligations on your bank still start at $3,000. A $500 transfer does not fall under the federal threshold, as it would have under the 2020 plan.
2. Your exchange's own forms still apply. An exchange can ask for sender and recipient details on any amount under its own policy or another country's law. The withdrawal does not stop that. Read the withdrawal screen rather than assuming a $3,000 floor.
3. Self-custody withdrawals are not facing the 2020 reporting plan either. After the October 6 withdrawal, the unhosted-wallet reporting proposal is gone. Any address checks your exchange runs, such as a whitelist, are its own controls; neither notice mentions them.
4. Watch for a new proposal, not a final rule. The agencies said any similar change will come with a new comment period. A fresh proposal would appear in the Federal Register first, giving time to comment before anything takes effect.

If you move funds between exchanges and banks often, our earlier explainer on FinCEN's order against MEXC and the withdrawal route covers a separate FinCEN action.

What we could not confirm

The notice does not say whether either agency plans a new proposal, or when. It does not explain how the current $3,000 rules apply to crypto transfers today; it only says the 2020 clarification will not be adopted. We did not open the Bitcoin News post on X that Odaily cited; the facts in this article come from the Federal Register documents themselves. The Federal Register version will carry the final page citation once it is published on November 9.

Quick answers

Did the US lower the travel-rule threshold to $250?

No. FinCEN and the Federal Reserve Board withdrew the 2020 proposal that would have done that. The threshold stays at $3,000.

Does this change anything for crypto users today?

No rule changes. It removes a proposal that would have extended the rules to crypto in writing and lowered the threshold for cross-border transfers.

When does the withdrawal take effect?

On publication in the Federal Register, scheduled for November 9, 2026.

Could the threshold still change later?

The agencies say any similar change would need a new public comment period first.