European Union: Reached Parliament and Council agreement on Regulation on information accompanying transfers of funds and certain crypto-assets

On 29 June 2022, the European Parliament and the Council reached a provisional agreement on the proposal for a regulation on “information accompanying transfers of funds and certain crypto-assets”. The proposal is part of the EU anti-money laundering and countering terrorism financing package (AML/CFT), presented by the Commission on 20 July 2021. The regulation aims to ensure the traceability of crypto-asset transfers by introducing an obligation for entities providing crypto-asset services to collect and disclose the information it has on crypto transactions, including the originator and beneficiary. In particular, the provisional agreement specifies that the minimum threshold and exemptions for low-value transfers will be removed to ensure that all crypto assets transfers can be traced. Finally, the crypto-asset services providers will be required to check the list of entities that are at high risk of money laundering or other criminal activities before they approve any crypto-asset transfers.