In an attempt to stem money laundering De Nederlandsche Bank plans to regulate all companies dealing with crypto coins, by requiring them to get a special license. The measure is aimed to deter money laundering and possible funding of terrorist activities.

Under the proposed legislation all companies that want to get a license will have to report all unusual cryto transactions to the authorities and to know exactly who their clients are.

The Dutch Central Bank says the new policy is necessary, because the crypto market is highly decentralized and with a high degree of anonymity, which makes it a perfect tool for money laundering.

Also the measure is in line with a new European directive – the fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, which is the first piece of European law that specifically mentions the crypto currencies.

The directive was passed back in June 2018 and is expected to become a part of the national legislations of all EU countries by 2020.

Investigators say that for the past two year alone through the top 50 currency exchanges around the world were laundered not less than 88 million USD.