EU to Propose New Agency for Crypto Crackdown

The European Union (EU) is to propose a new agency and new rules concerning crypto-asset transfers.

The EU is responding to calls for tougher action fighting money laundering, according to reports.
The European Commission, the trading bloc's executive arm, is proposing an Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) to take "decisions towards some of the riskiest cross-border financial sector obliged entities," according to EU documents Wednesday, the reports said.
Crypto-asset service providers would be obliged to collect and disclose data concerning originators and beneficiaries of transfers, something that is currently outside the scope of EU rules for financial services.
Until now, anti-money laundering regulation has been the remit of the EU's 27 member states, but the Commission says problems such as terrorist financing and organized crime should be addressed centrally.
Pressure for the EU to take firmer action on money laundering has mounted since the Danske Bank scandal of 2007-2015, in which €200 billion ($235 billion) of suspicious transactions flowed through an Estonian branch of the Danish bank.

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Jamie Crawley

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