FATF (Financial Action Task Force) has made the first steps in providing better regulatory clarity regarding exchanges and service providers in the space.

What is FATF?

FATF is an inter-governmental institution which includes influential countries around the globe.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 by the Ministers of its Member jurisdictions.  The objectives of the FATF are to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.  The FATF is, therefore, a “policy-making body” which works to generate the necessary political will to bring about national legislative and regulatory reforms in these areas.”

The crypto-service providers will have to keep track of the customers’ personal information and transactions. The data will help the regulators identify who transfers funds and by whom the funds were sent. This rule applies to transactions over $1000.

U.S Secretary of the Treasury, Steven T. Mnuchin stated:

For example, service providers must register with FinCEN. They must also institute an AML program, and recordkeeping and reporting measures, including filing suspicious activity reports.”

So yeah, everything that was mentioned above goes against the main purpose of cryptocurrencies, and that is anonymity.

Secretary Mnuchin further stated:

“By adopting the standards and guidelines agreed to this week, the FATF will make sure that virtual asset service providers do not operate in the dark shadows. This will enable the emerging FinTech sector to stay one step ahead of rogue regimes and sympathizers of illicit causes searching for avenues to raise and transfer funds without detection.“

Source here.

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