Investing.com – Cryptocurrency prices fell on Friday in Asia, with XRP and Litecoin falling more than 3%, as Ireland greenlit tougher laws on money laundering, which includes restrictions on the use of digital currencies.

Bitcoin dropped 1.95% to $3,774.9 and Ethereum lost 2.86% to $147.4 at 12:30 AM ET (05:30 GMT).

XRP fell 3.32% to $0.35471 on the Poloniex exchange, while Litecoin slid 3.61% to $31.438.

The Irish cabinet approved the Criminal Justice Bill 2019 that aims to combat money laundering. The proposed law would restrict the use of “virtual currencies for terrorist financing and limiting the use of pre-paid cards” and improves safeguards for financial transactions to and from “high-risk third countries,” according to the Irish Times.

This bill came after the European Commission’s fifth anti-money laundering directive entered into force in July last year. The measures include limiting the use of anonymous payments via pre-paid cards, which will see virtual currency exchange platforms come under the anti-money laundering rules.

EU member states are expected to implement the new rules into their legislation in January 2020.

Elsewhere, after New York State announced a task force to study cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology earlier in the week, and South Africa has also established a regulatory working group to investigate digital tokens and blockchain concepts, local media BusinessDay reported.

“It is anticipated that, following broad industry comment and participation, the crypto assets regulatory working group will be ready to release a final research paper on the subject during the course of 2019,” South Africa’s Finance Minister Tito Mboweni was quoted as saying.

Mboweni said that income tax rules apply to digital currencies.

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