Recent regulations against money laundering explicitly prohibit certain cash transaction limits as well as anonymous cryptocurrency payments.
The European Union (EU) has recently changed its regulations to forbid cryptocurrency transactions of any kind conducted through anonymous self-custody crypto wallets. A part of the recently put into effect Anti-Money Laundering (AML) legislation in the region is this update.
In a post on March 19, Patrick Breyer, a Deutsch Piraten Party member of the European Parliament, stated that the majority of the EU Parliament’s head commission supported the ban.
Notably, one of the two leaders who opposed this decision is Dr. Breyer. The other member of Parliament of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party who voted against it was Gunnar Beck. Payments using cryptocurrencies are prohibited in particular for unregistered wallets provided by service providers (hosted wallets), which includes self-custody wallets accessible through desktop, mobile, or web applications.
Recent regulations against money laundering explicitly prohibit certain cash transaction limits as well as anonymous cryptocurrency payments. Cash transactions over €10,000 and anonymous cash payments over €3,000 will be considered unlawful under current restrictions.
After the approved laws come into effect, it is anticipated that they will be completely functional in three years. Nonetheless, Dillon Eustace, an Irish legal company, anticipates that these laws will be completely implemented prior to the customary enforcement timeline.
Many cryptocurrency networks operate in permissionless environments at their core, meaning that anyone can generate a cryptographic private key and have unrestricted access to the network.
At its core, cryptocurrencies provide a more egalitarian, free, and inclusive financial system that does not discriminate against its users in any way. This quality is at the core of the cryptocurrency movement.
The latest clearance is viewed by experts and freedom campaigners as a blow to basic human rights and financial freedom. Financial privacy and economic freedom are allegedly jeopardised by the measure, according to German MEP Patrick Breyer. An essential right, in his opinion, is the capacity to conduct business anonymously.
The cryptocurrency industry, which places a strong focus on decentralisation and privacy, has reacted negatively to the legislative actions taken by the EU. There have been conflicting responses to these new rules. While some people think the new AML laws are essential, others worry they would violate people’s privacy and impede business.
The host of the Sound Money Bitcoin Podcast, Daniel “Loddi” Tröster, emphasised the difficulties and ramifications of the new law, going into detail on how it will affect donations and how it will affect cryptocurrency use in the EU more broadly. He expressed worries about the potential stifling impact of these regulations. Notably, the new rule has no bearing on transactions from one self-custody to another.