European Parliament Approves New Regulations For Cryptocurrency Companies

According to PANews, the European Parliament has passed new regulations, officially requiring cryptocurrency companies to conduct due diligence to combat money laundering. The Parliament voted on Wednesday to pass a series of laws that will partly strengthen 'due diligence measures and checks on customer identity,' including so-called crypto asset management companies. They will also have to report suspicious activities to the authorities. The new law will affect crypto asset service providers (CASPs), such as centralized crypto exchanges, and many other institutions, including gambling services. Patrick Hansen, EU Strategy and Policy Director at Circle, stated in a post on X that the voting result was expected. 'The bill will now also officially be approved by the EU Council and will take effect three years later,' Hansen wrote on the X platform. Last month, Hansen refuted rumors that the new law would ban anonymous crypto wallets and self-payment methods. He stated that the new law would apply to CASPs already regulated under MiCA (Crypto Asset Market Regulation), which need to follow standard KYC/AML procedures, such as customer due diligence (CDD). This is not something new, as all EU cryptocurrency exchanges and custodial wallet providers have already complied with these obligations under the current AMLD5 regulations. Hansen stated that overall, the final version is a 'great achievement' for the crypto industry. The previous version of the proposed AMLR suggested a stricter approach, which meant carrying out KYC on self-custody initiators/beneficiaries, but due to the industry's efforts, it was finally agreed to adopt a risk-based approach and various options.