Inside the Mnuchin Files

We FOIA’d erstwhile Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s emails. Here’s what we found.

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CoinDesk filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) petition with the U.S. Treasury Department for erstwhile Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s crypto-related emails. We received 250 pages of emails that shed airy connected everything from the department’s effect to sanctions concerns from different nations to who advocated for cardinal slope integer currencies wrong the erstwhile administration. (Hint: He was related to the past president.)

FOIA requests are a almighty instrumentality for helping to shed airy connected however policymakers are approaching questions of regulation. Today’s study by CoinDesk shows however the Treasury Department nether erstwhile President Donald Trump broadly viewed crypto, with different absorbing tidbits sprinkled throughout.

I conscionable privation to item immoderate cardinal findings from our report. To me, the astir important uncovering was that Oleksandr Bornyakov, the lawman curate of integer translation successful Ukraine, reached retired to the State and Treasury departments asking for help.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control issued sanctions connected Russian individuals progressive successful the annexation of Crimea successful 2020. A fig of crypto exchanges, including Bittrex, Coinbase and Gemini, responded by pulling retired of the full state of Ukraine.

Bornyakov asked the U.S. officials to clarify the sanctions compliance requirements, noting that Ukraine itself was not nether the aforesaid economical embargo arsenic Crimea.

No 1 astatine Treasury returned his email.

That seems to beryllium 1 communal theme. A fig of emails included successful the FOIA effect came from manufacture participants trying to supply oregon summation feedback astir assorted issues, specified arsenic the FinCEN wallet proposal. Some of these emails were shunted to deputies oregon lower-level officials, portion others did not person a effect astatine all.

I’d urge speechmaking the afloat nonfiction – six of america worked connected this to marque definite it’s arsenic broad arsenic possible. We besides made the afloat acceptable of responsive documents available here. (CoinDesk redacted lone immoderate idiosyncratic accusation similar email addresses.)

We person a fig of different outstanding nationalist accusation requests. One of these is simply a Freedom of Information Law petition to the New York Attorney General’s Office for documents astir Tether’s reserves, provided to the investigative entity arsenic portion of its enquiry into the stablecoin issuer. Tether has petitioned a New York tribunal to artifact the merchandise of these documents. Last week, CoinDesk joined the ineligible lawsuit arsenic an intervenor. You tin work CoinDesk’s filings here.

Tether, for its part, believes the merchandise of these documents volition enactment it astatine a competitory disadvantage, and said successful a nationalist connection that the FOIL petition is tied to CoinDesk’s genitor company, Digital Currency Group, besides being an capitalist successful Circle, which issues the USDC stablecoin.

Rostin Behnam was sworn in arsenic president of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission past week, aft astir a twelvemonth successful the acting president role. The Senate confirmed Behnam successful December. The regulator past twelvemonth said helium believes the CFTC could play a bigger role successful overseeing the crypto spot markets, citing trading measurement for bitcoin and ether connected U.S. exchanges.

• A16z Publishes Web 3 Policy Proposal for World Leaders: Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) published a argumentation connection for countries trying to physique Web 3 frameworks. This comes successful effect to questions from satellite leaders, said a16z planetary caput of argumentation Tomicah Tilleman, though helium declined to sanction immoderate circumstantial ones.

• (Bloomberg) PayPal is looking into whether it should motorboat its ain stablecoin, Bloomberg reports, citing PayPal Senior VP Jose Fernandez da Ponte. PayPal hasn’t committed to launching a stablecoin, though.

• (TechDirt) A national tribunal has ordered Twitter to place the idiosyncratic down an anonymous Twitter account. The relationship “tweeted retired assorted things mocking and shaming assorted highly affluent people,” TechDirt reports. The lawsuit itself appears related to a somewhat questionable copyright dispute.

If you’ve got thoughts oregon questions connected what I should sermon adjacent week oregon immoderate different feedback you’d similar to share, consciousness escaped to email maine astatine [email protected] oregon find maine connected Twitter @nikhileshde.

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