Many major crypto companies based in the United States have released a solution for the Financial Action Task Force's Travel Rule. In a Wednesday blog post, crypto services provider Paxos announced the launch of the Travel Rule Universal Solution Technology, or TRUST, with members including Coinbase, BlockFi, Gemini, Kraken, Robinhood, Circle, and Fidelity Digital Asset Services. The endeavor is aimed at ensuring crypto firms are in compliance with the Travel Rule while also proving ownership of recipients’ crypto addresses, meeting security and privacy requirements, and not centrally storing users’ personal data. The Financial Action Task Force, or FATF, recommended to …

The cryptocurrency industry is eager to comply with the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) so-called Travel Rule, and appears willing to work with regulators in order to expedite the process, a new survey found. As per a survey conducted by Notabene, a crypto compliance firm based in New York, most of the crypto industry will be Travel Rule-compliant by Q2 2022. Currently, the report claims that about 70% of respondents are either practicing the rule or planning to complete their compliance in Q1/Q2 2022. The advent of cryptocurrencies has presented a fresh problem in the effort to combat money laundering …

Beginning in February, Estonia is set to introduce sweeping changes to its definition of Virtual Asset Service Providers, or VASPs, to include several cryptocurrency-related services — a move that could impact Bitcoin (BTC) ownership in the country — according to European compliance specialist Sumsub. On Sept. 21, the Estonian Ministry of Finance published a draft bill to update the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act (the AML Act) as part of the government's effort to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. As Sumsub reported, the legislation is now in the interagency review process, with implementation set for February 2022. …

Major South Korean crypto exchanges including Upbit, Bithumb and Korbit will follow Coinone's lead in banning transfers to non-verified wallets, industry analysts say. Yesterday Coinone announced that it would reject deposits from unverified private wallets starting Jan. 24 to reduce the risk of money laundering. All Korean exchanges, including Upbit, Bithumb, Korbit and 20 others, are expected to implement similar or identical measures as Coinone by or before March 25. The Korean government set the deadline for exchanges to track coin transactions on and off their platforms accurately. Korean blockchain industry analyst Jun Hyuk Ahn told Cointelegraph, “Korean exchanges are …

Cyprus is moving to regulate the cryptocurrency industry, with the country’s finance ministry releasing a national risk assessment on crypto. Published on Dec. 13, the official documentation provides a risk assessment for the Republic of Cyprus regarding money laundering risks related to virtual asset activities and virtual asset service providers (VASPs). The Ministry of Finance of Cyprus stressed that there is a “limited direct understanding or experience” regarding money laundering risks of crypto in the country. However, authorities like Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) and local enforcement authorities have demonstrated a “sophisticated level of understanding of the sector,” the …

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) released its long-awaited guidance on virtual assets, laying out standards that have the potential to reshape the crypto industry in the United States and around the world. The guidance addresses one of the most important challenges for the crypto industry: To convince regulators, legislators and the public that it does not facilitate money laundering. The guidance is particularly concerned with the parts of the crypto industry that have recently brought about significant regulatory uncertainty including decentralized finance (DeFi), stablecoins and nonfungible tokens (NFTs). The guidance largely follows the emerging approach of U.S. regulators toward …

Decentralized finance, or DeFi, continues driving more interest from regulators, becoming a part of major international rules designed for virtual asset service providers, or VASPs. On Oct. 28, the Financial Action Task Force, or FATF, issued a new update for its 2019 guidance for a risk-based approach for virtual assets and VASPs, paying particular attention to the DeFi industry. The new guidance addresses issues identified in the FATF’s 12-month review of the revised FATF standards on virtual assets and VASPs requiring further clarification, also reflecting input from a public consultation in March and April 2021. The authority has provided significant …

Cryptocurrency exchanges Bitfinex is preparing to test out a new Anti-Money Laundering (AML) tool on its platform. The firm announced Wednesday that it will be testing a new solution designed for complying with the “Travel Rule,” an AML/Counter Financing of Terrorism regulation for financial institutions introduced by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in 2019. Bitfinex partnered with compliance startup Notabene to implement its software-as-a-service solution to identify virtual asset accounts, track cross-border transactions and comply with other broad obligations of Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs). The integration will supposedly allow the firm to ensure privacy while collecting and managing …

Tether Operations Limited, the firm operating the Tether (USDT)-centric platform tether.to, announced today that it will use Notabene, an end-to-end solution for cryptocurrency Travel Rule compliance. Tether will begin testing Notabene's cross-border transaction monitoring system for virtual asset service providers (VASPs) to combat financial crimes such as money laundering. Notabene is a new technology for monitoring cryptocurrency transactions in real-time, making the blockchain more transparent and allowing regulators to keep better track of cash flow. The Know Your Customer infrastructure stack at the firm is built to span jurisdictions with little or no regulation of financial services. In order to …

The nonprofit organization behind Cardano has partnered with blockchain analytics provider Coinfirm to ensure ADA is in compliance with the Financial Action Task Force’s guidelines. In a Tuesday announcement, the Cardano Foundation said it would be using Coinfirm’s services to provide Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) analytics for Cardano’s native cryptocurrency, ADA. According to the foundation, the integration will allow the project to be “in full compliance” with the guidelines set forth by the Financial Action Task Force, the European Union’s Sixth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, or 6AMLD, and other regulations applicable to Cardano. “AML/CFT analytics …

United States Senators have cast their votes, and the contentious HR 3684 infrastructure bill cleared in the upper Congress chamber. Now, the gigantic document of over 2,700 pages and amounting to almost $1 trillion is heading to the House of Representatives, including the provisions expanding the definition of a cryptocurrency broker, designed to beef up crypto and decentralized finance (DeFi) tax compliance. The $1 trillion can’t come out of thin air, right? While the bill in effect simply follows Financial Action Task Force (FATF) guidelines, doomsayers are already declaring the end is nigh, haunted by visions of the dreaded Internal …

Due to their anonymity or pseudonymity, digital assets are perceived as entailing the risks of money laundering and financing terrorism. In October 2018, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) adopted changes to its recommendations on financial activities involving digital assets, adding the definitions “virtual asset” (VA) and “virtual asset service provider” (VASP). Since then, the FATF has adopted a risk-based approach to VA activities or operations and VASPs. This new approach includes the supervision of VASPs to ensure compliance in the areas of licensing and registration and preventive measures such as customer due diligence, transaction reporting and record-keeping. It also …