As decentralized systems, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are difficult to regulate. But a move by US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin could cause serious damage to the industry.It sounded like a cry for help. On the morning of November 26th, Brian Armstrong, founder and CEO of the Bitcoin exchange Coinbase, posted a Twitter thread speculating about new regulatory approaches by the US government. It is about plans by the outgoing US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that could threaten the US crypto industry at its core.Last week we heard rumors that the US Treasury Department and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin wanted to initiate a new regulation regarding crypto wallets before the end of his term in office. I fear that this could have unwanted side effects and I wanted to share this concern.Brian Armstrong, translation of the tweet.The plan provides that in the future, crypto companies must first check the identity of the owner of self-managed wallets before they allow transfers. Bitcoin’s at least rudimentary anonymity would then be gone in one fell swoop. Because in the further course, transfers from this wallet can be clearly assigned to a real person.What on the surface sounds like an understandable suggestion from an anti-money laundering perspective would, in the opinion of the Coinbase CEO, have catastrophic effects on the sector. Because in the decentralized crypto country, it is difficult to assign a wallet to a real person. Smart contracts, for example, are structures made up of diverse identities. Coinbase could not fulfill its legal mandate to check this at all. In addition, customers of exchanges do not necessarily have to withdraw their coins to their own wallets. In practice, it is often the case that Exchange-BTC go straight to the trader’s account. According to the regulation, however, the respective user would be responsible for proving the identity…