• The European Union economic block is keen on money laundering and the use of crypto assets to enable terror-related activities in the region.
• The EU is pro-crypto assets and open to developments associated with the open ledger technology.

Amid the Russia-Ukraine war, crypto assets have received new attention on the ability to help countries evade sanctions. Following the Russian invasion, the EU has found itself on a rocky ground and dilemma state. In response to the invasion, the EU has issued stern sanctions strengthened by those outlined by the United States and the UK.

However, rumors of the possible use of crypto assets by Russia continue to give the west sleepless nights. A new report from the  Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs drafted by Ernest Urtasun, and Assita Kanko exhaust widely on the use of crypto assets in the block.

EU regulatory report on crypto assets

The sixty paper report has outlined up to 80 amendments that have been proposed for the member states. Worth noting, the EU is pro-crypto assets and open to developments associated with the open ledger technology. The report indicated;

The co-rapporteurs are convinced that an effective and strengthened framework to prevent the misuse of crypto-assets for money laundering and terrorist financing purposes is necessary to protect EU citizens from terrorism and organised crime, while contributing to the development of a safe, lawful and well-functioning space for users of crypto assets and crypto asset service providers across the Union. The co-rapporteurs call on Member States and EU competent authorities to ensure proper implementation and enforcement also in a view of avoiding unfair and unregulated competition, including from non-EU players,

The report depicts that law enforcement officers and also regulators are compelled to work together to ensure the proper use of crypto in the region. As a major global economic block, the EU intends to scale its crypto regulatory mindset to the global community.

Among the keynotes include amendment 30 which describes the transfer of crypto. The report reads;

Transfer of crypto-assets’ means any transfer of crypto-assets from one wallet address or crypto-asset account to another wallet address or account, carried out through at least one crypto-asset service provider or other obliged entity acting on behalf of either the originator or the beneficiary, irrespective of whether the originator and the beneficiary are the same person and irrespective of whether the crypto-asset service provider of the originator and that of the beneficiary are one and the same,

Worth noting, the economic block is keen on money laundering and the use of crypto to enable terror-related activities in the region.

Given the high risk of money laundering and terrorist financing posed by non-compliant crypto-asset service providers, which offer full anonymity- based services and are not recognised by any jurisdictions or are based in high risk third countries for AML/CFT purposes, crypto-asset service providers and any other obliged entity should refrain from interacting with non-compliant crypto- asset service providers,