- In a meeting held at its headquarter in Paris, FATF told nations to take Travel Rule seriously
- The survey results reveal that fewer countries have implemented this enactment.
The usage of crypto in money laundering and other illegal activities is nothing new. Governments and regulatory bodies have often warned about crypto being the main instrument for these spurious activities. And recently, it seemed like the nations woke to the threats posed by the misuse of this pioneering technology.
FATF revealed the status quo on implementation
The Financial Action Task Force is an intergovernmental organization that oversees the conduct of all nations in the world in using their funds. On June 23, the body met with members from various countries and asked everyone to implement the “Travel Rule”. With this ruling, the body intends to prevent terror funding and money laundering activities powered by cryptocurrencies.
While the concept of the “Travel Rule” is not new, many countries didn’t take its implementation seriously, according to the body. They said that the miscreants kept using crypto for their maleficent schemes without facing any encounters from the government.
The representatives of different countries attended the FATF meeting at its headquarters in Paris. The body conducted a survey and asked the participating countries to fill it. As per the questions of its results, more than half of the countries didn’t implement this rule.
FATF implored nations to take some measures instantly. It asked them to prevent money laundering and terrorism by taking stern action on crypto-based actions. It asked the countries to work on finding the loopholes in the decentralized payment system and fixing them.
Tracing the History of Travel Rule
In March 2022, FAFT did the same survey and found only 29 out of 98 countries meeting the criteria. The Travel Rule was initially implemented in 2019 to stop the rising number of illegal crypto transactions. In June 2022, it was updated by the body for the last time.
Since the rolling out of the rule, the body has been posting tweets regarding regulating virtual assets. Also, the body informed that it would publish a report on June 27 about its recommendations’ status. Notably, the report will divulge North Korea’s illicit activities regarding virtual assets.
Allegedly, the proceeds from these activities go to bankrolling terrorist activities. This includes purchasing mass destruction weapons too. So FATF’s calling on Travel Rule does underline some grave issues. The organization is hoping that these measures could get the nations to act on such activities.
However, illegal crypto-based money laundering and hacking are supported by some countries as well for their benefit. So it is hard to say if these efforts will do some good to the nations. Although, with the FAFT bringing different countries for one cause, we can certainly expect to see some changes, at least to some extent.
But again, the discussion about keeping decentralization intact is also going on for a while. Crypto enthusiasts insist that bringing the technology under the regulatory framework will compromise its structure. At the same time, its anonymity makes it hard for regulators that try to stop illegal activities.
