The U.K.’s finance and economics department, Her Majesty’s Treasury, has strengthened measures to curb the alleged risks associated with cryptocurrencies.

Director of Retail and Regulatory Investigations, Therese Chambers revealed the new regulations in a March 6 speech. She said that the new Money Laundering Regulations (MLR) position the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as the Anti-Money Laundering overseer for some crypto objectives.

In her speech, Chambers said, these new regulations go beyond the 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD) to include a broader set of activities including ICOs, as recommended by FATF in 2019. The 5AMLD was entered as law by the EU in July 2018 and came into effect on January 10, 2020.

Chambers claim cryptocurrencies are associated with notable money laundering risks since they allow anonymous financial transfers. She explained that the FCA’s regulatory oversight mainly focuses on the business dealings within the crypto space. The MLRs apply to exchanges that offer fiat pairings, and those that deal in crypto pairings. Custodial wallet providers, ICOs, IEOs and crypto ATMs are also included.

According to Chambers, any company conducting any of the aforementioned activities must show the FCA risk assessment, customer due diligence, transaction monitoring, record-keeping as well as suspicious activity reporting.

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