The new anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing bill will also affect the cryptocurrency industry

On May 5, a draft of a new law on anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing by the Ministry of Development and Finance was published. The bill [...] https://www.pinterest.com/pin/1085437947660215829/

On May 5, a draft of a new law on anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing by the Ministry of Development and Finance was published. The act will also apply to the cryptocurrency industry.     On May 5, a draft of a new Act on Counteracting Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing by the Ministry of Development and Finance was published. The act will also apply to the cryptocurrency industry.   The new law is a result of the guidelines of the European Union, namely the Directive of the European Parliament and the Council (EU) 2015/849 of 20 May 2015.   The new project is the next stage of financial surveillance of citizens. A Central Accounts Database will be created, which we wrote about already in December 2016.   Importantly, the list of institutions required to assess risk and identify their customers will be expanded. The new list will include entities engaged in: exchange between cryptocurrencies and official means of payment, exchange between cryptocurrencies, storing identification data providing customers with access to virtual currency units   In practice, this means that the obligation to identify their customers will be incumbent on typical bitcoin exchanges where it is possible to exchange BTC and other cryptocurrencies for fiat currencies (which is already used), as well as, more controversially, on cryptocurrency exchanges where there are no fiat currencies, and the exchange takes place only within the cryptocurrencies (e.g. exchange of BTC for LTC).   Another controversial issue is the obligation of customer identification by services offering.... online cryptocurrency wallet services.... Users are thus left with software and hardware wallets, which fortunately cannot be covered by any law.   The draft also provides for new rules of stopping transactions and blocking bank accounts, as well as new rules of cooperation between the General Inspectorate of Financial Information (GIIF) and foreign financial intelligence units and Europol. In practice, this means that "suspicious" transactions may be blocked more frequently, e.g. transactions of persons involved in cryptocurrency trading or arbitrage on exchanges, as well as persons withdrawing "suspicious" sums from foreign exchanges.   It will be incumbent upon the obligated institutions in the Act, including cryptocurrency companies, to analyze suspicious transactions that may indicate a connection to crime, money laundering or terrorist financing.   Very severe penalties are foreseen for companies that fail to comply with the new obligations. According to the draft, the maximum penalty may amount up to EUR 5 million, and for an institution with legal personality - up to 10% of total annual turnover.   The financial penalties are not the only whipping boy, the package also includes the threat of imprisonment of up to 3 years for those who fail to comply with the obligations to provide information, conceal it or provide false information.   According to the guidelines, AML4 directives are to be introduced by June 26, 2017.   Photo: pixabay.com Tags aml bitcoin btc Ministry of Finance Poland law regulations