According to Financial Times in British reported on September 19, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said that a set of global anti-money laundering (AML) standards will be established to regulate cryptocurrencies alike nem coin, ripple coin and litecoin.
The FATF is an international organization initiated by the G-7 in 1989 to develop policies and standards to combat money laundering. The agency’s activities have been further expanded to combat terrorist financing. The FATF currently consists of 35 member jurisdictions and 2 regional organizations.
According to the report, the chairman of agency, Marshall Billingslea, said he hopes to coordinate a series of standards at the October FATF plenary meeting to narrow the gap of global anti-money laundering standards.
At that time, the Financial Action Task Force will allegedly discuss which existing standards should be adapted to the digital currency and revise how countries implement the assessment methods for these standards. Billingslea also outlines the importance of developing standards that can be applied in a uniform manner.
According to Billingslea, the current anti-money laundering standards and systems for cryptocurrencies are largely patchwork and have significant vulnerability to both the national and international financial systems. Billingslea pointed out that despite the risks of such assets, digital currency offers a huge opportunity as an asset class, such as the application of bitcoin currency.
In June of this year, Cointelegraph reported that the FATF plans to begin developing binding rules for crypto transactions later that month. Considering whether the existing guidelines on anti-money laundering measures and reporting suspicious transactions are still applicable and whether these guidelines can be applied to new exchanges, the new rules will be upgraded to non-binding approved by the FATF in June 2015. resolution.
Earlier this month, Belgian think tank Bruegel also called for uniform legislation on cryptocurrencies and more scrutiny of how cryptocurrencies are allocated to investors. Bruegel pointed out that the virtual nature of cryptocurrencies limits the development of regulations, and he points out that the regulation of encrypted piecemeal offers an opportunity for regulatory arbitrage.