The European Parliament approved this Thursday the first rules of the European Union to trace the transfers of crypto-assets and prevent money laundering. Common rules are also adopted in order to improve user protection.
travel rule
The text aims to ensure that cryptocurrency transfers can always be traced and suspicious transactions blocked, as is already the case for any other financial transaction. The “travel rule”, already existing in traditional finance, will apply in the future to transfers of crypto-assets. This rule requires that information about the originator of the asset and its beneficiary travel with the transaction and be kept on both sides of the transfer.
The rules will also cover transactions above €1,000 made from so-called self-hosted wallets (a private user’s crypto-asset wallet) when interacting with hosted wallets operated by crypto-asset service providers. . The rules will not apply to person-to-person transfers made without a provider or between providers acting on their own behalf.
Consumer Protection
MEPs also voted on new common rules on oversight, consumer protection and environmental safeguards for crypto-assets, including cryptocurrencies. These rules, which have already been informally agreed with the Council in June 2022, include safeguards against market manipulation and financial crime.
” Consumers will be protected from deception and fraud, and the industry that was damaged by FTX’s collapse can regain confidence. Consumers will have all the information they need and all underlying risks associated with crypto-assets will need to be monitored. We have ensured that the communication of environmental impact will be taken into account by investors in crypto-assets. This regulation brings a competitive advantage to the EU. The European crypto-asset sector benefits from regulatory clarity that does not exist in countries like the United States “, explained Stefan Berger, rapporteur on the European regulation on MiCA crypto-assets.
The texts will now have to be officially approved by the Council, before their publication in the Official Journal of the EU. They will come into force 20 days later.