European Commission to Assess Bitcoin's Role in Terrorist Financing
The European Commission said today it is assessing whether digital currencies like bitcoin fuel terrorist financing and money laundering as part of a new security report. In a 17th November memo, the Commission outlined its view of the state of security in the European Union (EU), a publication that comes days after more than 100 people died in a series of attacks in Paris, France. According to the memo, the Commission is investigating terrorism financing risks in the EU following the adoption of an anti-money laundering framework earlier this year, a process it said will pay "particular....
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The new European Commission proposal to prevent money laundering and terror financing proposes additional regulations for Bitcoin companies. In the backdrop of recent terrorist attacks across the European Union and the Panama papers leak, the European Commission has put forth a proposal to amend the existing Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations. The proposal calls for the amendment of EU Directive 2015/849 and Directive 2009/101/EC, both related to prevention of money laundering or terrorist financing. The proposal includes a series of measures to prevent....
The European Commission, the executive arm for the European Union, has said that it plans to tighten reporting standards for digital currency exchanges as part of a broader effort to restrict terrorist financing channels. The Commission said that it intends to require both exchange and wallet service providers in Europe to identify their customers, a move that comes after growing debate among EU policymakers about whether digital currencies are being used by terrorist groups to transfer funds. The announcement comes on the heels of a report by the EU’s top law enforcement agency, Europol,....
Recently the European Commission (EC) announced plans to apply the EU anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing regulations (the Fourth AML Directive or 4AMLD) to digital currency exchanges and possibly wallet providers. This move is a part of the EC’s broadening action against terrorist financing. But while this news comes as no surprise, another EC proposal, far less publicized and somewhat overlooked, has the potential to revolutionize the current state of affairs in digital currency regulation in the EU. The intention to embrace digital currencies by AML/CTF regulations has....
Bitcoin exchanges in Europe are soon to be regulated under the scope of Europe’s Anti-Money Laundering Directive. The European Commission issued a statement late Tuesday night detailing new efforts to control financial flows and money transfers, which it described as aimed at subverting terrorist financing. Among these mechanisms are bitcoin and other virtual currencies. The Commission “proposes to bring virtual currency exchange platforms under the scope of the Anti-Money Laundering Directive, so that these platforms have to apply customer due diligence controls when exchanging virtual....
Is bitcoin really the preferred currency of terrorists? You might think so from reading some of the mainstream media headlines. But a recent intergovernmental study on terrorist financing paints a very different picture. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a Paris-based, intergovernmental body that develops policies to protect the global financial system against money laundering, terrorist financing and financing of weapons of mass destruction, recently released a report called Emerging Terrorist Financing Risks. There is a small section in the report about virtual currency as a tool....