Fresh AML Regulations To Be Ready By June’19

By Prashant Jha

AML (anti-money laundering) legislations, that are meant to act as the world’s major monitor and scrutineer of financial transactions, are soon to be rolled out for cryptocurrencies as well. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is the main body that formulates and implements these regulations and they have stated that new regulations are due to be ready by June the coming year. According to reports from global news agency Reuters, the Paris-based entity has been working tediously towards introducing some structure and regulation to the mostly unregulated and subsequently uncontrolled and risky world of virtual currencies, crypto exchanges and initial coin offerings (ICOs).

The announcement about the upcoming regulations was made this week itself and the watchdog went on to explain the details of their regulatory plans. They would be coming out with regulations that are expected to inject a new standardisation to the world of crypto. They noted that the proper implementation of these would require cooperation from authorities in charge of jurisdictions around the world so that the various exchange compliance tests or licensing scheme enforcements can be carried out smoothly. There would be checks on ICOs and providers of cryptocurrency wallet services as well.

FATF president Marshall Billingslea was the one in charge of setting a date after discussing the matter with officials representing more than 204 jurisdictions all over the world. She chose an early date in the coming summer and FATF issued the caveat that any country that refuses or fails to comply with these will be included in the blacklist. If blacklisted, those countries will be prevented from enjoying unrestricted access to the world’s financial set-up.

FATF released a statement this Friday saying :

“there is an urgent need for all countries to take coordinated action to prevent the use of virtual assets for crime and terrorism.”

Since there has been no cohesive effort to standardise crypto regulations till now, different governments have taken different stances, meaning crypto firms could not seamlessly transition from one country to another in a bid to expand globally. Given most countries find it hard to agree on how to tackle the problem of volatility in crypto prices and regularise crypto exchanges and storage wallets, an ardent need was felt to formulate comprehensive universal regulations, and was expressed by many leaders in this year’s G20 Summit. The new AML regulations are meant to be answer to all these confusions.