cryptocurrency

The UK cryptocurrency exchange that’s turned its back on anonymity – CryptoNewsReview


British exchange CEX.IO is moving to comply with the EU’s anti-money laundering directive, well over a year ahead of deadline…

On the one hand, the idea of cryptocurrencies offering an alternative to fiat currencies, and a decentralisation of fiscal power, has won admiration. But on the other, the anonymity that sometimes comes hand in hand with crypto has become a weapon of legislators, keen to crack down on the crypto market. In America, for instance, we’ve seen the Securities and Exchange Commission clamping down on ICOs and what it sees as the murkier side of the market.

In the UK? Well, an EU anti-money laundering directive is currently in place, although quite where that stands in a post-Brexit world remains to be seen. At the very least, Google News will like we got the word Brexit into a story.

But for UK exchange CEX.IO, it’s keen to comply with said directive. And that means its customers can’t expect anonymity.

CEX.IO announced the move in an official press announcement. Its regulatory affairs counsel, Serhil Mokhniev, said that “we have always understood the importance of dealing with virtual currency within a legal framework, so mandatory verification for customers who transact in fiat currency was introduced long before the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive was adopted in the EU”.

The exchange is making sure it’s ahead of regulators and enforcement organisations, and argued it was always launched as a self-regulated exchange all the way back in 2013. This is the latest step in that self-regulation, ensuring it abides with changes that officially take effect in January 2020. Its new mandatory verification demands are in force from now.

 

 



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