European Union Lawmakers Vote to Impose €1,000 Limit on Unidentified Cryptocurrency Transactions

European Union legislators agreed to impose a €1,000 limit on cryptocurrency transactions in which the customer cannot be identified. According to the  European Parliament (EP), “banks, asset, and cryptocurrency asset managers, real and virtual estate agents, and high-level professional football clubs will be required to verify their customers’ identity, what they own, and who controls the company.”

Lawmakers Vote on New European Union Regulation

Members of the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee and the Civil Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs Committee took a position on three pieces of draught legislation on the financing conditions of the EU’s Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism policy on Tuesday. 

The “single rulebook” regulation, which aims to harmonize financial regulation across the EU, was one of the three. It was approved by the European Parliament with 99 votes to 8, with 6 abstentions. According to the statement, this regulation includes “conditions on conducting customer due diligence, transparency of beneficial owners, and the use of anonymous instruments, such as cryptocurrency assets, and new entities, such as crowdfunding platforms.” 

According to the adopted texts, “entities such as banks, asset and cryptocurrency  asset managers, real and virtual estate brokers, and high-level professional football clubs will be required to verify their customers’ identity, what they own, and who controls the company.” 

According to Aurore Lalucq, a European Parliament member, the new legislation affects explicitly cryptocurrency trading platforms and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). She emphasized that non-traditional financial instruments (NFTs) not included in the new Market in Crypto-assets Regulation (MiCA) will now be subject to anti-money laundering rules, and NFT platforms must comply with these legal obligations. Lalucq went on to declare that the European Anti-Money Laundering Authority will be able to compile a list of risky platforms based outside of the European Union. 

Furthermore, she stated that due diligence procedures will be implemented for transactions made with unhosted wallets, emphasizing that purchases exceeding €1,000 will only be authorized if the owner or beneficiary can be identified. Relationships with unregistered or unlicensed platforms and entities will also be prohibited, according to the lawmaker, and AMLA will compile a list of these entities. 

Buy and sell crypto in minutes with 0.20% trading fees at Bitdenex Exchange.