The Council and Parliament of the European Union (EU) reach a provisional agreement to extend the application of anti-money laundering and terrorist financing laws to crypto asset service providers (CASP). The aforementioned companies must apply due diligence measures to the client when they carry out transactions worth 1,000 euros or more.
Other sectors affected by customer due diligence and reporting obligations will be traders of luxury goods, such as precious metals, precious stones, jewellers, watchmakers and goldsmiths. Dealers of luxury cars, airplanes and yachts, as well as cultural goods (works of art), will also become obligated entities.
Cryptoactive money laundering
The provisional agreement also includes the football sector and expands the list of entities bound by professional football clubs and agents.
The Council and Parliament also set an EU-wide maximum limit of €10,000 for cash payments, to make money laundering more difficult. However, member states may impose a lower ceiling if they so wish. According to the provisional agreement, obligated entities must identify and verify the identity of a person who makes an occasional cash transaction between 3,000 and 10,000 euros.
The agreement, according to the statement released by the aforementioned organizations, is an integral part of the new EU anti-money laundering system. It will improve the way national anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing systems are organized and work together. This will ensure that fraudsters, organized crime and terrorists have no room to legitimize their profits through the financial system.
MiCa begins its application in June
Parliament and Council indicate that the provisional agreement on an anti-money laundering regulation will, for the first time, comprehensively harmonize rules across the EU. What has been agreed must be ratified by Parliament and the Council before it comes into force.
The provisional agreement comes five months before #MICA , the law that regulates #criptoactivos in Europe, begins its application in the countries that make up the EU. June 2024 will be when the first provisions of the law, focused on stablecoins, come into force.
