The EU Parliament is expected to vote to bring to an end the anonymity of making payments via cryptos when the committee meets this week. 

Members of the Economic Affairs Committee are also expected to include transfers using cryptos to private wallets or self-hosted wallets in anti-money laundering (AML) checks. This is not all. The committee is seeking to stop all crypto transfers between the EU and jurisdictions like Hong Kong and Turkey.

Suggested Reading: A Beginner’s Guide to Crypto Wallets

What Do the Present Laws Require?

According to the financial laws in traditional banking and mobile banking, payees are required to be positively identified before financial institutions can transfer more than USD 1,099. To apply the same law to cryptos, most national governments have indicated that they target to eliminate the lower limit because bigger transactions can as well be broken down into several of them (this is called smurfing).

Pushed by national anti laundering officers who indicate that cryptos are used in child abuse and funding terrorism, lawmakers appear in agreement that identity checks are paramount for crypto transfers. Already, the right-wing opposed to the move is acknowledging they will not win. 

Internal documents dated 25th March 2022 suggest that lawmakers are set to tell services offering cryptos to stop making transfers that support money laundering or related activities. This means that it will be almost impossible to make transfers to blocs or jurisdictions, such as the Virgin Islands, Turkey, Russia, Hong Kong, the UK and the US, that are believed to be tax havens.

Assita Kanko, one of the top lawmakers selling the parliament’s views on this legislation, indicated she wants to further extend the measures to incorporate even the privately held cryptos irrespective of how the transactions are enforced.