EU and UK move towards the “travel rule” implementation for crypto-assets
On 20 July 2021 the European Commission (the Commission) published a proposed Regulation on transfer of funds and certain crypto-assets. The proposed legislation will recast Regulation 2015/847 on the transfer of funds, and once adopted, it will implement in European law the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendation to accompany the transfer of crypto-assets with information on the originator and on the beneficiary of each transfer (the so called “travel rule”). The proposed legislation will introduce an obligation for crypto-asset service providers to collect and make accessible data concerning the originators and beneficiaries of the transfers of crypto-assets they undertake. A similar initiative is also underway in the UK. Shortly following the publication of the Commission’s proposal, on 22 July 2021, HM Treasury launched a public consultation on amendments to The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 Statutory Instrument 2022. Noting recent technological developments allowing compliance solutions for the “travel rule” to be developed, HM Treasury is consulting on its approach to the implementation of the relevant requirements for transfers of crypto-assets. The below note provides a short overview of the key elements of the EU and UK approaches to the travel rule implementation.