A vote took place on the 19th of April 2018 regarding European regulations of cryptocurrencies. The EU Parliament has voted in order to support an agreement proposed in last December, which aims to prevent the use of cryptocurrencies for illegal activities such as money laundering and financing of terrorism. The parliament assessed the votes, resulting in 574 yes votes, 13 no votes and 60 abstentions according to the official release.

The proposed legislation is going to implement rules for cryptocurrency exchanges, platforms and custodian wallet providers. Customer verification is a key issue according to the paper, hence users of the above mentioned service providers must be registered with authorities and will have to apply due diligence procedures. This is not the first attempt so prevent money laundering activities, actually this agreement, known colloquially as “5AMLD”, is the fifth update from the EU that aims to solve the issue of illegal activities. These measures are partly results of the recent terrorist attacks of 2015 and 2016 in Paris and Brussels and the infamous Panama Papers leaks.

Member of the EU Parliament (MEP) and co-rapporteur Krisjanis Karins expressed: “Criminal behavior hasn’t changed. Criminals use anonymity to launder their illicit proceeds or finance terrorism. This legislation helps address the threats to our citizens and the financial sector by allowing greater access to the information about the people behind firms and by tightening rules regulating virtual currencies and anonymous prepaid cards.”

She is not alone with her views as another co-rapporteur Judith Sargentini claimed that “billions of euros are being lost due to money laundering, tax evasion and terrorism financing. She added that the lost funds “should go to fund our hospitals, schools and infrastructure.”

According to a release from the EU Council the updated directive will come into effect three days after publishing it in the Official Journal of the EU. After then, member countries will have 18 months to integrate the new rules within their national law.