FATF And Basel Committee Publish New Guidance On Cryptocurrencies

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a cross-border, intergovernmental anti-money laundering organization, recently released a report and update on the implementation of FATF's standards on virtual assets (VAs) and virtual asset service providers (VASPs), which were originally announced three years ago. The report emphasizes that over the last year, jurisdictions have made only "limited progress" in introducing FATF's Travel Rule, which requires VASPs to communicate the information of the originators and beneficiaries of crypto transactions that exceed a certain threshold. Specifically, FATF reports that as of March 2022, only 29 out of 98 jurisdictions have represented that they have passed Travel Rule legislation, and only 11 have started enforcement and supervisory measures. The report also finds that threats of ransomware actors misusing VAs to facilitate payments continue to grow, and ransomware cybercriminals are still relying on a small group of noncompliant