Legislative madness – Our dear technocrats from European Parliament no longer seem to waste a single week without trying to make decisions that could destroy the crypto sector in Europe. On March 14, we already had escaped from little to one de facto ban on Bitcoin (BTC) and its miningwith the rejection of a last-minute amendment from the MiCA Law. This Thursday, March 31, some parliamentarians now want prohibit any transfer for which the senders/recipients would not be identified, even to/from wallets private.
Obligation to monitor all crypto transfers?
The Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, which missed by a few votes to ban Bitcoin and the consensus by proof of work on March 14, will again vote on ultra-restrictive amendments for cryptocurrencies on March 31, 2022.
This time, exit the environmental lobbying headwind against crypto-mining, since it is now the regulations to fight against the money laundering (AML) and against the financing of terrorism which threaten to massacre the European cryptosphere. More specifically, an amendment to the regulation on fund transfers.
Result applied to cryptos? These legislators want monitor completeness cryptocurrency transactions. Any transfer of more than €1,000 was already subject to an obligation to customer verification (KYC, Know-Your-Customer), but there, it is no longer a question ofno threshold.
“Due to the specific characteristics and the risk profile of crypto-assets, the information obligation [KYC] should apply to transfers of crypto-assets, regardless of the value of the transfer. »
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From the 1st satoshi, a user of cryptos will be considered as a potential suspect
If this desire for crazy surveillance were not enough, the authors of this regulatory gas factory also specify that they therefore want to apply this obligation of identification for absolutely any crypto-transaction made by the digital asset service providers (PSAN). Not only (as hitherto) between wallets held on behalf of their clients (« custodial wallets »).
The rapporteurs of this regulatory amendment indeed want all the wallets private involved in a transaction with a PSAN are monitored and identified. Whether for send or receive cryptos, whatever their amountand that the wallets be based on a software (MetaMask,…) or a hardware wallet (Where hardware walletlike Ledger) – called ” unhosted wallets ». i.e. wallets ” not hosted » (by a centralized entity, easily monitored).
“For “non-hosted wallets” (…) the (KYC) information must be obtained by the crypto-asset service provider, directly from its client, and must be kept and made available to the competent authorities. »
In other words, the customer database hackers and the home jackers are soon likely to have beautiful lists of crypto-holders at your fingertips, and this, from the first satoshi transferred to/from a PSAN (even, potentially, without being a customer!).
As for the obvious endangerment of our personal data and the private life online, we have known for some time now that governments and legislators don’t care. It is even precisely to avoid this that Satoshi Nakamoto imagined Bitcoin in 2008. If this vote were to pass, the primary focus of cryptocurrencies would be totally misguided.
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