FAFT calls for greater enforcement of crypto-assets
The Financial Action Task Force has planned to strengthen travel rule standards to enable countries to adapt to safer virtual asset services.
Global anti-money laundering watchdog FATF called for greater use of crypto-assets, as well as prioritizing countries’ needs to stem the flow of illegitimate funds while using cryptocurrency.
The roadmap that raised awareness of improved regulation of virtual assets was published in the latest report to the FATF. It applies to all member states and FSRBs, and it will allow them to apply the travel rule and other anti-money laundering recommendations to crypto.
FATF’s strategy for implementing the Travel Rule
In recent months, several companies have focused on the travel rule, as regulatory developments in the crypto world required companies to comply with it.
For example, in an interview published by The Paypers in 2022, Notabene shared his idea of why these rules are important for companies to follow, as well as his advice on how to reflect these requirements from different jurisdictions in one’s business more safely and effectively.
In 2019, the FAFT organization amended the travel rule to require companies and virtual asset service providers to collect and share data and information about both the source and destination of all digital assets over USD 1,000.
The lack of regulation and protection of virtual assets in many countries around the world gives criminals opportunities for terrorist financiers to exploit. The travel rule was also neglected even though it required the collection, storage and transmission of important information about transaction data for virtual assets.
According to the report published by the Financial Action Task Force, the agreement to promote the enforcement of the standards of the travel rule was adopted at the FAFT plenary in France.
Thus, a roadmap was agreed, designed to strengthen the implementation of standards both for digital assets and their suppliers. This roadmap will include several features, such as an overview of the current implementation levels covering the global network.
Furthermore, the organization plans that in the first half of 2024 FAFT will issue a report on the steps FATS members and FSRB countries must take with significant virtual asset activity, in order to regulate and supervise their providers.
The report also focused on the situation in Russia and Ukraine, as the committee decided to suspend the Russian Federation’s membership as the country’s war against Ukraine entered its second year. The FATF mentioned that the action has threatened financial stability worldwide, as it also violates several laws and regulations.
Other compliance with the Financial Action Task Force Standards was discussed in several sections, focused on a variety of geographies, countries and industries. The FATF also focused on jurisdictions, including those under enhanced surveillance, those subject to a call, or those no longer under enhanced surveillance, with the included regions specified for each.
