European Parliament voted to tighten regulations on cryptocurrency

On Thursday, April 19, 2018, most members of the European Parliament voted in favour of the EU directive of December 2017 on measures aimed at preventing the use of cryptocurrency for money laundering and terrorist financing.

According to the news portal of the European Parliament, there were 574 votes "for", 13 - "against" and 60 - "abstain".

New legislation is aimed at reducing the degree of anonymity when using cryptocurrency by introducing rules for cryptocurrency exchanges, platforms and wallet providers. In accordance with the measures taken, these entities must be registered with the authorities and conduct legal due diligence, including verification of clients.

The updated directive will come into force three days after publication in the Official journal of the European Union. After that, the EU member states will have 18 months to introduce new rules into national legislation.

Judith Sargentini, Dutch politician and member of the European Parliament, noted that there are a number of new EU sanctions for those convicted of money laundering in the agreement of the European Council dated December and reached by consensus, adding that this measure was an important step in the fight against organized crime at the European level.