European Union The European Union (EU) is years away from implementing a consistent framework for cryptocurrency regulation, according to a new report by the SWIFT Institute. The report notes the lack of convincing arguments to include virtual currencies under the EU’s current legal frameworks, set by the revised Directive on Payment Services (PSD2) and the fourth European anti-money laundering directive (AMLD4). The PSD2, adopted in the EU in October this year, consists of a new set of consumer payment protection rules, which seek to promote the development and use of innovative online and mobile payments. Meanwhile, the AMLD4 has been produced in line with recommendations issued by Financial Action Task Force (FAFT) in 2012 to enhance the EU’s AML (Anti Money Laundering) and CTF (Counter-Terrorist Financing) laws. The report reads: " … recent legislative procedures – such as those for the AMLD4 and PSD2 – have not paid sufficient attention to this development, thus leaving virtual currencies largely untouched. While the AMLD4 could be construed to extend to virtual currencies, the precise degree to which will succeed in deterring their abuse for money laundering and terrorist financing purposes remains to be seen." "Third, future legislation – such as the potential EMD3 – remains a development to be watched closely," notes the report, adding: "However, in order for a potential new legislative framework regarding e-money to extend to virtual currencies, a more fundamental reconfiguration of the very notion of e-money is needed." With multipurpose prepaid cards having lost the field and network-based money services coming closer and closer to being payment services, the original purposes of the e-money framework are quickly losing their relevance, it argues. "A reorientation toward virtual currencies could then bring new life to this notion, and extend the legal framework to include recent developments such as […]
