EU Wants To Ban Anonymous Crypto Wallets In An Effort To Counter Money Laundering And Terrorism

The European Union (EU) has proposed banning anonymous cryptocurrency wallets as part of a new set of amendments to counter money laundering and terrorism.

What Happened: One of the four legislative proposals introduced on Tuesday proposed a revision of the 2015 regulation on the transfer of funds to trace crypto assets.

"Today’s amendments will ensure full traceability of crypto-asset transfers, such as bitcoin, and will allow for prevention and detection of their possible use for money laundering or terrorism financing," said the Commission in a statement.

As a result of the new rules, companies involved with buying, selling, or holding cryptocurrency on behalf of their clients will need to disclose the customer's name, address, date of birth, and account number.

The EU will also impose an outright ban on providing anonymous crypto-asset wallets, in line with existing rules that prohibit anonymous bank accounts.

“Today's package significantly ramps up our efforts to stop dirty money being washed through the financial system. We are increasing coordination and cooperation between authorities in member states, and creating a new EU AML authority. These measures will help us protect the integrity of the financial system and the single market,” said EU Commissioner for Financial Services Mairead McGuinness.

Price Action: At press time, Bitcoin BTC/USD was trading at $32,106, gaining 7.81% over the past 24-hours.

The leading digital asset dipped to a low of $29,360 on Tuesday, before recovering above $30,000 earlier today.