In a 32-page report submitted to Congress, the Department of the Treasury admits that mixers can serve legitimate financial privacy purposes.
The United States Department of the Treasury acknowledged in a 32-page report presented to Congress that cryptocurrency mixers can have legitimate uses for financial privacy. This marks a shift in position from the same agency that sanctioned Tornado Cash in 2022 and classified international mixers as money laundering hubs in 2023.
The document explicitly states that “legitimate digital asset users may use mixers to ensure financial privacy in transactions on public blockchains,” adding that individuals may turn to these tools to protect sensitive information related to personal wealth, business payments, or charitable donations. The report was produced in compliance with Section 9 of the GENIUS Act, signed in July 2025, which required the Treasury to submit its findings within 180 days. The deadline was set for January 14; the report is dated March 2026, approximately seven weeks late. The Treasury reviewed more than 220 public comments in preparing the document.
Despite acknowledging legitimate uses, the report emphasizes that criminal exploitation of mixers remains a top concern. According to Treasury data, North Korean cybercriminals stole at least $2.8 billion in digital assets between January 2024 and September 2025, including the $1.5 billion hack of Bybit, systematically using mixers as part of complex, multi-stage laundering chains. The report also reveals that since May 2020, over $1.6 billion in deposits from mixing services has flowed into cross-chain bridges. Of this amount, more than $900 million was concentrated in a single bridge that, according to the document, “faced criticism for failing to intervene in swaps” conducted by North Korea-linked actors.
Among the report’s most significant original findings is an analysis of the relationship between mixing, stablecoins, and cross-chain bridges. Since May 2020, more than $37.4 billion in withdrawals from over 50 bridges have been denominated in the two largest stablecoins by market capitalization. The report notes that the direct deposit of stablecoins into mixers for illicit purposes “appears to be low,” but highlights that illicit actors commonly funnel other digital assets through a mixer and then convert the output into stablecoins to disrupt traceability before converting to fiat currency.
The document draws a distinction between custodial and non-custodial mixers. Custodial mixers are already required to register with FinCEN as money services businesses and, when compliant, “could provide unique information such as customer identities, off-chain transaction data, and behavioral patterns.” The report does not recommend new restrictions on non-custodial mixers and neither finalizes nor endorses FinCEN’s 2023 proposed rulemaking on registration requirements for mixers, instead deferring to the Presidential Working Group report from July 2025.
On the legislative front, the Treasury is asking Congress to enact specific digital asset legislation, referred to as a “hold law,” that would provide a safe harbor for financial institutions to temporarily freeze suspicious assets during a brief investigation, describing it as “particularly useful for combating illicit finance involving licensed payment stablecoins.” Regarding DeFi, the report recommends that Congress specify which actors should be subject to AML/CFT obligations based on their roles and associated risks. The Treasury also proposes the introduction of a “sixth special measure” under Section 311 of the PATRIOT Act, which would authorize the Treasury to prohibit or impose conditions on certain digital asset transfers not connected to a correspondent banking relationship.
