The European Parliament recently announced its intention to modify certain rules of the Anti-Money Laundering Bill. The decision was made following complaints from the crypto community about certain restrictions in the bill. After revising the relevant rules, EU policy makers have just voted on the bill.
Restrictions that affect anonymous crypto wallets
The European Parliament has previously announced that it intends to impose new restrictions on crypto payments. The vote on the final text of the anti-money laundering bill took place on March 28. Elected representatives of the European Union overwhelmingly supported restrictions on financial transactions made through anonymous crypto wallets. Indeed, 99 legislators voted in favor of these rules. 8 representatives voted against and there were 6 abstentions.
The vote was taken by two key committees of the European Parliament. These are the Economics and Civil Liberties Committees. Damien Carême, lawmaker leading the European Parliament’s negotiations on the revision of money laundering laws, made a statement on the subject. He supported that the voted project will not limit transactions in crypto. Indeed, the ceiling of 1,000 euros will not apply if the wallet provider is regulated. The same will apply if the identity of the person making the payment is known.
With this vote, negotiations with the Council of the EU can now begin. It should be noted that the latter represents the Member States of the EU. The Council previously wanted to ban the use of anonymous cryptos such as Monero (XMR) and Dash (DASH). In addition, the European Parliament intends to vote in April to approve the rules on the identification of payers during transactions.
Lately, there have been a whole series of money laundering scandals within the European Union. Examples include the Pandora Papers and Russian financial transactions linked to Danske Bank. It is in this context that the EU has decided to review the laws relating to money laundering. She also took the decision to ban businesses from accepting large cash payments. Another proposed measure is the creation of a new European Union Anti-Money Laundering Agency (AMLA). But, in 2022, crypto companies protested anti-money laundering laws.
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