European Union Took Measures Against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing

Regulators in the European Union today reached a provisional deal on parts of a comprehensive regulatory package to battle money laundering that will force all crypto firms to run due diligence on their customers. The anti-money laundering regulations include the creation of a single rulebook and set up a supervisory authority that will also have an impact on the crypto sector.

Anti-Money Laundering Regulations

These regulations will affect entities such as financial institutions, banks, real estate agencies, asset management services, casinos, and merchants play a crucial role as gatekeepers in the anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CTF) framework as they have a privileged position to detect suspicious activities.

These regulations will be focusing more crypto sector which will force all crypto sector crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) to conduct due diligence on their customers. This means that they will have to verify facts and information about their customers, as well as report suspicious activity.

Strict Rules for Crypto Cross-border Relationships

The Council and Parliament also introduced specific guidelines and due diligence measures for cross-border correspondent relationships for crypto-asset service providers.

This agreement is part and parcel of the EU’s new anti-money laundering system. It will improve the way national systems against money laundering and terrorist financing are organized and work together. This will ensure that fraudsters, organized crime, and terrorists will have no space left for legitimizing their proceeds through the financial system,” Belgian Minister of Finance, Vincent Van Peteghem.

Vincent Van Peteghem Belgian Minister of Finance

Now, this remains to be seen how these rules will impact and how people will adapt these rules.