The European Parliament wants cryptocurrencies to be properly controlled. The new rules are intended to prevent money laundering and the criminal concealment of funds.
The European Parliament wants to stop criminal activity with cryptocurrencies. Parliament approved with a clear majority the regulation that will facilitate the tracing of cryptocurrencies in Europe.
Regulation makes it easier to prevent money laundering and harmonize supervision and consumer protection. The purpose is to make it difficult to use virtual currencies for criminal purposes.
The European Parliament also approved a draft law that creates common rules for the supervision, consumer protection and environmental responsibility of cryptocurrencies.
The EU member states are expected to give their political blessing to the reforms decided by the parliament.
National control, transnational markets
The concern of cryptocurrencies has been that the position of the owner is weak.
Control has been made more difficult by the fact that regulation has been national, even though the market is transnational. Cryptocurrencies have been used to hide criminal assets.
Cryptocurrencies have provided criminals with a significant advantage because funds can be moved anonymously much more easily than traditional money.
The new regulation extends the “travel rule” regarding the transfer of money to the crypto side as well. In the future, information about the transferor and recipient of the property must be stored and delivered from one service provider to another.
Service providers are obliged to provide information to the authorities if the investigation involves money laundering or terrorist financing.
Advisor to the Financial Supervisory Authority Hanna Heiskanen estimates that the parliament’s reform package is significant.
– With its regulation, it now brings service providers much closer to what is required of other traditional players in the financial sector, says Heiskanen.
Listen to an episode of the Tiedetrippi podcast The Mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto – The Unknown Creator of Bitcoin: