That reporting must include the personal identity information — essentially anti-money laundering and Know Your Customer data — of the person making the transaction.
Unfortunately, the definition was so broad that it captures not only the real brokers and exchanges it targeted, but also cryptocurrency miners and validators, node operators, software developers, and leaderless decentralized exchanges. None of whom are capable of capturing the data required.
Specifically, it defines a broker as “any person who (for consideration) regularly provides any service responsible for effectuating transfers of digital assets, including any decentralized exchange or peer-to-peer marketplace.”
Given the intensity of the political fight over the broader bill, there wasn’t enough bandwidth to get the provision changed in the House.
Much Ado about Nothing
“Even assuming the whole thing gets through the House, which is anyone’s guess, the language is ambiguous and there’s floor testimony that says that the intent is not to impose reporting requirements on infrastructure providers. Who knows what the implementing regulations would look like, and if bad, they seem likely to be challenged in court.”
Noting that the language could even be read to capture Internet and telecom service providers, he added:
“There is no way the language can be fairly construed to mean that.”