PANews reported on July 5 that according to Cointelegraph, the European Banking Authority (EBA) has taken important steps to strengthen anti-money laundering (AML) measures and announced that the travel rule guidance will be extended to crypto service providers and their intermediaries. From December 30, cryptocurrency exchanges operating in the European Union (EU) will be subject to Regulation (EU) 2023/1113 (Travel Rule Guidance), which requires reporting of information on transfers of funds and crypto assets.
Therefore, according to the definition of MiCAR, crypto asset service providers (CASPs) will be subject to the EU Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime. Once the regulation comes into force, payment service providers (PSPs), intermediary PSPs, CASPs and intermediary CASPs will be given a two-month grace period to declare compliance with the new requirements. Some general provisions include collecting user information to transfer funds or crypto assets, determining whether a transaction is related to the purchase of services, and detecting seemingly related transfers. In addition, crypto service providers and intermediaries need to declare their multiple intermediary and cross-border transfer policies.
The EBA acknowledged that complying with the EU Travel Rule Guidance will put cryptocurrency exchanges and service providers under financial pressure. However, the regulator expects there will be overall benefits in the long run.