FATF Confused by Nations’ Slowness to Regulate Crypto: Details

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has expressed concerns that many countries have not implemented laws designed to regulate the virtual digital assets sector. The report issued by the FATF states that the delay in implementing and adopting these crypto-related laws is leaving room for criminal activities. The organization has analyzed 12 months of data to produce a list of nations, detailing the laws adopted by each nation.

“In February 2023, the FATF Plenary agreed on a roadmap to strengthen the implementation of FATF standards on virtual assets and virtual asset service providers (VASPs). Many countries have yet to regulate virtual assets and virtual asset services. Fully enforce FATF requirements on providers to prevent their misuse for illicit finance. Official post.

The Paris-based global financial watchdog is trying to address issues related to the misuse of crypto-assets by criminals for money laundering or terrorist financing. In November 2022, the FATF unofficially obliged countries to comply with its Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations. ‘Grey Listed’.

Among other laws, the FATF has directed all countries to allow only licensed firms to deal in crypto assets. The FATF has also directed nations to collect details on senders and receivers of crypto assets, particularly on suspicious transactions. In the list compiled by the FATF, it has marked the nations that have or have not met certain standards set by the FATF regarding crypto activities.

These standards include conducting risk assessments, implementing a licensing system, and conducting supervisory inspections of VASPs.

“Virtual assets are inherently international and borderless, meaning that failure to regulate VASPs in one jurisdiction can have serious global implications. This is of particular concern,” the organization said. “The purpose of this table is to enable the FATF Network to encourage jurisdictions with materially significant VASP activity to fully implement Recommendation 15 in a timely manner.”

India has apparently implemented all the rules laid down by the FATF. On the other hand, some countries like Australia, Finland, Greece, Malaysia and Portugal are still in the process of implementing FATF rules.

Ashish Singhal, co-founder of India’s CoinSwitch crypto exchange, has responded to FATF’s concerns.

“We appreciate India’s proactive approach in assessing the risk of VASPs and implementing the travel rule. India’s mutual assessment was conducted last year and a possible full discussion is scheduled for June this year,” Singhal said. wrote LinkedIn post.

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