The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) proposed a law to apply the travel rule to cryptocurrency transactions, rendering them traceable. This rule already applied to conventional wire transfers. It forces the sender and recipient to exchange certain identifying information when funds are transferred between financial institutions.
Under the proposal, a company handling cryptocurrency for a customer must note the customer’s name, address, date of birth and account number, and the name of the recipient. The company handling the recipient’s account must then check that all this information is correct and present.
Just as anonymous bank accounts are illegal under EU anti-money-laundering rules, anonymous cryptocurrency wallets will also be prohibited.
“We shouldn’t have different rules for the financial system. They should apply across digital currencies as well,” said EU commissioner for financial services, Mairead McGuinness, during a press conference...