The EU Parliament lawmakers officially criminalized financial anonymity by imposing a series of privacy-invading crypto regulations. The majority of the house voted in favor of a controversial proposal that would require KYC for almost everything. Naturally, industry officials are against this decision saying it would stifle innovation and invade privacy. But, the eye of Sauron wants to see everything, even transactions less than $1,000! After all, every single tax payer dollar counts, especially in times of crisis.
Buy and Sell Cryptocurrencies anonymously on HiExchange
No KYC
Privacy Invading Crypto Regulations
First and Foremost, the bill calls for KYC (know your customer) for all transactions. Before this bill, all transactions over EUR 1,000 applied to anti-money laundering (AML) which required identification. This time however, over 90 lawmakers felt the need to broaden their horizons by extending AML requirements to all transactions. To be fair, since crypto transactions tend to be very cheap, big transactions could easily be divided into small ones in order to fly under the radar. However, privacy is seriously in jeopardy as crypto regulations continue to fight anonymity.
Furthermore, the identification also extends to unhosted or self-hosted wallets. But that’s not all, crypto exchanges will have to fully cooperate with EU or they will be unable to work in EU . Although the details remain unclear, it would be safe to assume that exchanges will have to disclosed all customer data with the EU.
On the other hand, members of the European People’s Party (EPP) opposed the bill to no avail. Having called it a “de facto ban of self-hosted wallets” they condemned the new crypto regulations.
EPP’s economic spokesperson said in a statement:
“Such proposals are neither warranted nor proportionate, with this approach of regulating new technologies, the European Union will fall further behind other, more open-minded jurisdictions.”
More to Come?
Ironically, according to a report in late 2021, less than 0.05% of crypto transactions account for money laundering. Subsequently, these heavy-handed crypto regulations seem to be politically motivated as a way to prevent possible Russia from undermining new sanctions.
Interestingly, a separate legal proposal is also in the works that would stop transfers made to “non-compliant” crypto service providers. This proposal includes service providers operating in the EU without authorization or those not affiliated to the EU.
For the most part, industry giants condemned the latest onslaught of crypto regulations and threatened to take the matter to the EU courts. Coinsbase CEO Brian Armstrong warned in a tweet posted on Wednesday that the exchange would have to report to the authorities any time a customer received over EUR 1,000 of crypto from a self-hosted wallet.
In addition to the parliament, EU ministers should also agree with the proposal in order to pass the law.
HiExchange
HiExchange is a decentralized online platform to exchange your cryptocurrencies and e-currencies. We utilize an automated system to determine the best exchange rates at any moment. Furthermore, HiExchange does not require KYC or a sign-up process. Also, the platform offers 24/7 customer support.
To learn how to exchange your cryptocurrencies to PayPal you can read our instructional article.
For more instructional content, you can always visit HiExchange Blog
