The Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) welcomes the European agreement to also include “virtual currencies” for the first time in the future in the provisions for combatting money laundering. The European Commission (EC), the European Parliament (EP) and the European Council (Council) decided in the trilogue to amend the 4th Anti Money Laundering Directive (Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and the Council of 20 May 2015), to also subject exchange platforms for virtual currencies as well as so-called “wallet providers” i.e. electronic wallets to the provisions of the Anti-Money Laundering Directive:
- Exchange platforms for virtual currencies will then fall under the scope of application of the Directive in the event that they offer the exchanging of virtual currencies against legal instruments of payment. The exchanging of different virtual currencies between one another is not however addressed.
- “Wallet providers”, i.e. providers of electronic wallets, that manage the respective cryptographic keys of the holders of private currencies (“private keys”) in any case fall under the provisions of the Anti-Money Laundering Directive.
- Furthermore, such providers will be obliged in the future to register themselves.
Furthermore, in the amendment of the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive, there is also a legal definition for the first time, and consequently clear criteria for its legal delineation for a “virtual currency” in an EU legal act.
“We particularly welcome this initiative by the European institutions, as it represents an important first step towards the regulation and supervision of the booming market for virtual financial instruments and services,” remarked the FMA’s Executive Board, Helmut Ettl and Klaus Kumpfmüller. “It is an important step that such online service providers in the future will also need to identify and perform checks about their customers in the same way as financial institutions in accordance with normal due diligence conditions and to constantly monitor transactions.”
Following the conclusion of the European parliamentary process, there will be an 18 month implementation period following the entry into force of the amendment to the Directive.
Journalists may address further enquiries to:
Klaus Grubelnik (FMA Media Spokesperson)
+43/(0)1/24959-6006
+43/(0)676/882 49 516