DIGITAL CURRENCY INTERMEDIARIES TO BE REGULATED UNDER 4TH ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING DIRECTIVE

Since the Paris attacks, the EU commission sped up their agenda to add cryptocurrency to the fourth anti-money laundering (AML) directive.

Here are some of the main features of 4AMLD:

Obligated entities were previously required to identity and verify the identity of a customer based on information from a ‘reliable and independent’ source.

Now they will be also be required to:

· Identify the beneficial owner (article 13)

· Understand the purpose of the business relationship

· Monitor the customer relationship on ongoing basis.

Obligated Entities shall determine application of above measures on risk-sensitive basis (article 13.2). But, in any event, this work should be done before carrying out a transaction for a customer (article 14). For cryptocurrency intermediaries, it is wise to begin implementing these measures gradually and add operational controls in advance of these becoming a requirement.