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EU Parliament Approves Rules to Crackdown on Crypto
Summary: Two European Parliament Committees, the Committee for Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) and the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), have passed a draft aimed to crack down on so-called unhosted wallets. This decision was made on Thursday and comes in the latest installment of the European Union’s discussion on the Transfer ...
Two European Parliament Committees, the Committee for Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) and the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), have passed a draft aimed to crack down on so-called unhosted wallets.
This decision was made on Thursday and comes in the latest installment of the European Union’s discussion on the Transfer of Funds Regulation (TFR). This vote approved amendments to its usual TFR that would require crypto service providers, primarily exchanges, to identify the owner of unhosted wallets. This is especially challenging for an industry that has so far thrived on anonymity.
Co-founder and CEO of Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, tweeted his stance on this issue stating “On 31 March, the EU Parliament will vote on its proposal for a new crypto surveillance regime. The proposal is anti-innovation, anti-privacy, and anti-law enforcement.”
He concluded his tweet with a call to action asking followers to contact their members of the European Parliament.
Fortunately for the crypto industry, this does not mark the end but rather the beginning of discussions. There will be another vote on the TFR today. Pending a final vote, the bill is expected to face discussions with the European Commission and European Council as early as mid-April.
In addition, article five of the draft would require exchanges to report to authorities every transfer from a non-customer’s wallet of at least EUR 1,000 (USD 1,115).
In response to this potentially harmful legislation for the crypto industry, representatives and bodies such as Global Digital Finance (GDF) have asked the members of the European Parliament to consider a 3 measures: adopt a proportionate approach to “unhosted wallets,” reinstate the EUR 1,000 threshold and remove blanket reporting.
Lavan Thasarathakumar, Director of Government and Regulatory Affairs at Global Digital Finance (GDF), said in a letter to members of the European Parliament,“GDF proposes that a period of 12 months for phase-in requirements and 24 months for implementation are put in place. This will give exchanges enough time to put in place the measures to deal with this.”
Author: Tyler Irvin
Tags: Crypto,European Parliament
Link: EU Parliament Approves Rules to Crackdown on Crypto [Copy]
