'An Impossible Requirement': Why Have I Been Pwned's Creator Is Dropping Crypto Donations

Troy Hunt, creator of Have I Been Pwned, announced that the measure would likely follow the tightening of Australia’s cryptocurrency oversight requirements. Hunt stressed that this level of compliance was impossible to fulfill, especially when applied to small donations.

Key Takeaways

• Troy Hunt plans to drop crypto donations because strict Travel Rule laws make small tips impossible.
• Coinbase required extensive sender data for a $6 donation, disrupting anonymous peer-to-peer funding.
• AUSTRAC enforced Travel Rule mandates on July 1, tightening KYC oversight for virtual asset providers.

Have I Been Pwned Security Project To Drop Crypto Donations

While the tightening of oversight for cryptocurrency transactions is making it difficult for criminals to use digital assets for illicit purposes, it is also affecting use cases where identification is not practical.

Troy Hunt, creator of the Have I Been Pwned website, which allows users to find out whether their emails have been part of data breaches to verify if their information is at stake, announced that he will likely drop crypto donations due to the enforcement of Travel Rule compliance.

On social media, Hunt complained after being prompted by Coinbase to provide the information from a donation made by an unidentified third party due to new Australian regulations.

“I think I can remove the crypto addresses from haveibeenpwned’s donation page. This is an impossible requirement from the Aus gov, looks like back to PayPal only.” Hunt declared.

Coinbase stated that “new Australian regulations require information about the sender when you receive crypto outside Coinbase.” To redeem these funds, Hunt must provide the full name, country of residence, ID number, home address, and date of birth of the sender to redeem these funds.

Hunt was recommended to use self-hosted wallets to continue to receive these donations or to move the company to a more crypto-friendly jurisdiction. “That’s the second crypto donation I’ve had this year and it’s about 6 bucks so no, trying to move the whole circus someone else doesn’t make sense. And everywhere is tightening KYC requirements,” he answered.

ASUTRAC, the Australian government’s financial intelligence agency and anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) regulator, started enforcing travel rule requirements for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) on July 1.

Nonetheless, according to 21 Analytics, if the wallet is self-hosted, “there is no obligation to transmit Travel Rule information, but information collection and verification obligations still apply.”