Planned regulatory changes on the cryptocurrency market

The Council Presidency and the European Parliament have reached a provisional agreement on a proposal for cryptocurrency markets that covers issuers of unsecured crypto assets, trading platforms, and wallets in which cryptocurrencies are held. The planned regulations will be EU in nature, thus welding together national solutions that have been put in place to date. The EU regulatory framework aims to protect investors and maintain financial stability while enabling innovation and increasing the attractiveness of the cryptocurrency sector. The changes will directly affect Polish entities registered in the register of virtual currency activities.

The most significant changes include:

• a requirement that a full set of information about the sender of the transfer is transmitted along with the funds, regardless of the cryptocurrency value of the transaction. The rule is to apply to transactions between wallets operated by regulated service providers (such as cryptocurrency exchanges),
• an obligation for cryptocurrency service providers whose parent company is located in countries on the EU’s list of third countries deemed high risk for AML, as well as the EU’s list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes, to implement enhanced controls under the EU AML framework,
• an obligation for the European Banking Authority to maintain a public register of non-compliant cryptocurrency service providers.

 The agreement will be subject to approval by the Council and the European Parliament before the amendments are formally adopted.

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