The European Parliament has given the green light to the first EU rules aimed at regulating transactions involving crypto-assets like bitcoin and e-money tokens.
The goal is to prevent money laundering, and the rules include the traceability of payments made with these assets.
This move comes as the crypto-assets sector is currently poorly regulated, allowing criminals to operate anonymously.
The rules aim to make it possible to trace payments made using these assets, similar to the rules in place for traditional payments. Suspicious transactions can be blocked, and the travel rule will apply to transfers of crypto-assets. The rules will also cover transactions over €1,000 made from self-hosted wallets.
MEP Assita Kanko explained that the €1,000 threshold doesn’t make sense in the crypto world, where big crimes can hide behind small amounts. Additionally, larger service providers will have to make their energy consumption public to reduce the high carbon footprint of cryptocurrencies.
The texts will have to be officially approved by the Council before being published in the Official Journal of the EU and will come into effect 20 days later.
