On Thursday, members of the European Parliament from the Economic and Monetary Affairs and Civil Liberties Committees adopted their position on a draft law aimed at strengthening the European Union’s rules to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, by 93 votes in favor, 14 against, and 14 abstentions.
Traceability of crypto asset transfers
Under new requirements approved by MPs, all transfers of crypto assets must be accompanied by information regarding the issuers and recipients. This information shall be provided at the request of the competent authorities. The rules will also cover transactions made from so-called non-hosted wallets (the address of a crypto-asset wallet owned by a private user). Technology solutions must ensure that transfers of crypto assets can be individually identified.
The goal is to ensure that transfers of crypto assets can be traced and to prevent suspicious transactions. The rules should not apply to person-to-person transfers of crypto assets made without a provider, such as bitcoin exchanges, or between service providers acting on their behalf.
There is no minimum
Due to its speed and virtual nature, crypto-asset transactions can easily circumvent existing rules based on transaction limits. Members of the European Parliament have decided to remove minimum limits and exemptions for transfers of low-value crypto assets.
Public Registry of High Risk Entities
Members of the European Parliament want European Banking Authority The EBA creates a public registry of crypto-asset entities and services at high risk for money laundering, terrorist financing, and other criminal activity, including a non-exhaustive list of non-compliant asset providers.
Before making crypto assets available to beneficiaries, service providers must verify whether the source from which they originated is not subject to restrictive measures or that there is no risk of money laundering or terrorism.
quotes
Ernst Ortason (Greens / EFA, ES), Co-Rapporteur of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, said: “Illicit flows of crypto assets go largely unnoticed across the EU and the world, making them ideal tools for ensuring anonymity like money laundering in the past. Scandals ranging from the Panama Papers to the Pandora Papers have shown that criminals thrive where anonymity is guaranteed due to the confidentiality rules in the legislation, and the EU will bridge that gap.”
Assita Kanko (ECR, BE), Co-Rapporteur of the Commission on Civil Liberties, emphasized: “Our report reflects two goals: protection and normalization. All persons of good will should be encouraged to use crypto assets correctly and safely, as well as be protected from the use of crypto assets in the financing of terrorism, extortion or Child pornography or money laundering. In addition, we also seek to normalize the world of crypto assets as it evolves, and build rules that build trust more than a decade has passed since the creation of Bitcoin. Now is the time to take these important steps for our citizens.”
next steps
The approved text is a draft mandate for MEPs to begin negotiations with EU governments on the final form of legislation. It is expected that the European Parliament will vote on this file during the plenary session for the month of April.
Context
The list is part of the new Anti-Money Laundering Package Which includes measures to strengthen EU rules in combating money laundering and terrorist financing. It develops solutions to the shortcomings of the existing framework, which attest to ineffective implementation, faulty monitoring, and inadequate detection of suspicious transactions.
Currently, in the European Union, there are no rules that make it possible to track transfers of crypto assets or provide information on the initiator / beneficiary of these transfers.