European Union introduces new rules to fight Cryptocurrency fraud

New rules have been agreed upon by the European Union to lead the fight against Cryptocurrency fraud.

The provisional agreement by European Union lawmakers late on Wednesday, June 29,  is aimed at clamping down on suspicious Cryptocurrency transfers, illicit activity and fraud, something that was previously unregulated.

Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Binance, and Ethereum were previously untraced when traded between two parties. The new rules, however, will mean that both sides of a transaction will have their details registered and stored by Crypto companies.

The companies would then be required to pass this information on to authorities when suspicious activity is suspected, such as during investigations into terrorist financing or money laundering.

Assita Kankno, European member of parliament for Belgium, has been part of the team campaigning for new rules against Crypto fraud to be introduced.

“For too long, crypto-assets have been under the radar of our law enforcement authorities,” she said in a statement. “It will be much harder to misuse crypto-assets and innocent traders and investors will be better protected.”

Spanish politician Ernest Urtasun, who has served as a Member of European Parliament since 2014, also welcomed the news.

“This new regulation strengthens the European framework to fight money-laundering, reduces the risks of fraud and makes crypto-assets more secure,” he said.

The agreement marks the first steps to tracking and tracing cryptocurrency exchanges since Bitcoin first burst onto the scene in 2009.

Urtasun also took to Twitter to show his delight at the new rules being introduced.

1/Deal! After months of negotiations with the Council, we agreed the most ambitious travel rule for transfers of crypto-assets in the world. We are putting an end to the wild west of unregulated crypto, closing major loopholes in the European anti-money laundering rules. Thread👇 pic.twitter.com/Jr9IAspsb8

— Ernest Urtasun (@ernesturtasun) June 29, 2022

“After months of negotiations with the Council, we agreed the most ambitious travel rule for transfers of crypto-assets in the world,” he said. “We are putting an end to the wild west of unregulated crypto, closing major loopholes in the European anti-money laundering rules.”

EU legislation makers will continue to focus on the new rules on Thursday, June 30, solidifying the technical details before they become official.

As with the EU’s groundbreaking tech and data privacy laws, it is anticipated the new laws will have a big impact on global crypto legislation.

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