Financial Action Task Force's Updated Guidance: Virtual Assets And Virtual Asset Service Providers

In June 2019, the Financial Action Task Force¹ (the "FATF") published the Guidance for a RiskBased Approach to Virtual Assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers ("VASPs") to clarify how FATF's existing standards on anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism ("AML/CTF") (the "Recommendations") apply to virtual assets and VASPs. As per its ongoing monitoring of the rapid development, increasing functionality, and growing adoption of the virtual assets and VASPs, on 28 October 2021, the FATF published an updated version of the guidance (as updated, the "Guidance").

The Guidance mainly aims to aid private sector entities engaging with virtual asset activities or operations and help them to understand and comply with their AML/CTF obligations. Within this scope, in the Guidance, the FATF clarifies the definitions of virtual assets and VASPs and addresses new areas concerning virtual asset space, such as non-fungible tokens, stablecoins,