G20 Officials Accepted FATF's Crypto Guidelines

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) new guidelines which ensure better transparency and communication with authorized authorities, have been widely accepted by the G20 pack members. The European Union along with other 19 major countries welcomed the introduction of the new guidelines, and concluded that FATF standards will be put into practice for combating money-laundering and theft schemes, as well as minimizing or completely eliminating the financing of terrorism activities through crypto transactions.  

The FATF issued their final guidelines just a week prior the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, held on 27^th and 28^th June. The new rules will oblige crypto exchanges to store senders and beneficiaries names and public addresses during transactions.

In the final report, FATF gives crypto exchanges 12 month to implement a series of innovations, such as: originator's name (i.e., the sending client); their wallet public address; originator's physical address, date and place of birth; and the unique customer identifier, which resembles the exact user account number, stored on the wallet platform. Recipient data include name and wallet address.

The new guidelines received negative feedback from crypto exchanges and companies, such as Coinbase, Circle, and Chainalysis. Their main concerns are that the new standards will require a collaborative effort of the entire crypto community, as well as financial resources for the implementation of the regulations. Some of the crypto exchanges might even close operations or transition into the dark sector.

FATF's recommendations are not obligatory, but if a country declines to make adjustments to their laws, they will be put to a so-called "blacklist," which could lower or eliminate foreign investments.

The G20 members also stated that the organization is closely monitoring the development of the entire crypto sector while taking a great precaution on risks, related to the industry.

The G20 report outlines that the crypto sector is not a potential threat to the global financial stability, and instead, all capabilities that the crypto offers should be deployed for the provision of a more flexible and stable financial ecosystem