Tag:ctf

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Global AML Regulator Amends Its International Standards for Virtual Assets
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Australia’s New AML Rules: Reducing the Anonymity of Digital Currencies

Global AML Regulator Amends Its International Standards for Virtual Assets

By Jim Bulling and Felix Charlesworth

On 19 October 2018, the global anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), made a series of amendments to its rules framework (Standards), in response to international developments in the use and exchange of virtual assets such as cryptocurrencies and other virtual tokens.

The Standards set out the FATF’s recommended framework of rules and measures which countries, including Australia, should adopt in order to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

As part of the revised Recommendation 15, the FATF has written “to manage and mitigate risks emerging from virtual assets, countries should ensure that virtual asset providers are regulated for AML/CTF purposes“.

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Australia’s New AML Rules: Reducing the Anonymity of Digital Currencies

By Jim Bulling and Edwin Tan

The Australian Government has recently decided to regulate Digital Currency Exchange (DCE) providers, as they have inherent money-laundering and terrorism financing risks stemming from their high degree of anonymity and ease of cross-border transactions.  As part of this regulation, DCE providers must provide regular reports to the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC).  These reports must include, if known, the social media identifiers, unique device identifiers and digital wallet addresses of the relevant customer.

Many digital currencies operate on public blockchains that contain records of all transactions ever made, which is essential to their transaction validation and anti-tampering features.  This public nature enables every client on the blockchain network to verify that any currency used in relation to a transaction actually exists, by looking through the transaction history of a particular digital wallet address.  As such, being able to link digital wallet addresses to particular individuals will, over time, give AUSTRAC the power to trace suspicious transactions up the chain back to an individual.  It may also be possible for the Australian Taxation Office to use this information in the future to ensure that individuals correctly report any capital gains resulting from the trading of digital currency for taxation purposes.

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