Some MEPs are trying to hold a vote that, if successful, would ban anonymity in crypto transactions.
Who do you send crypto to?
MEPs are expected to schedule a vote next week that would ban anonymous transactions if successful. This basically means that you must at all times be able to prove to whom you are sending crypto, even if it concerns a transaction to a non-custody wallet (where you manage your own private key).
Further measures being implemented
Assita Kanko, one of the leading lawmakers responsible for drafting the parliament's positions, also said on Tuesday that she wants to extend the measures to include private crypto assets, despite the uncertainty over how to enforce transactions between non-custody wallets.
Amount doesn't matter
CoinDesk writes that the amount also does not matter whether you are allowed to send an anonymous transaction, or not. And that is special to say the least, since the threshold for an international bank transfer is 1,000 euros.
Guillaume Valette-Valla, head of Tracfin, France's anti-money laundering organization, said crypto transactions are being used to fund terrorism in Syria and Iraq and child pornography in Southeast Asia. He also told lawmakers in the European Parliament that even those who make small online payments should be forced to reveal their identities. Small anonymous transactions should not be allowed, he added.
Exclude countries from transactions
The European Parliament is expected to go one step further, by excluding certain jurisdictions from crypto transactions. Consider, for example, that you are not allowed to send bitcoin to a former fellow student in Poland. This is completely impossible in all respects and totally unenforceable by Europe, but that aside.
These would be jurisdictions that have been identified as risky in the field of money laundering and other illegal activities. The measures may include requiring crypto service providers not to allow transactions to certain countries. For various reasons you can think of the United States, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Russia, Hong Kong, Iran and the Cayman Islands.
