Bruno Le Maire, the Finance Minister of France, ordered all cryptocurrency providers to check and reveal the identity of cryptocurrency owners in an effort to stop the potential involvement of digital assets in terrorism financing.
In an official press release, the Minister pointed out an incident that occurred in September 2019 when a terrorist unit apparently financed itself with anonymous cryptocurrency accounts. In the latest announcement, the French politician asked virtual asset service providers to completely ban anonymous crypto wallets.
The Ministry outlined that registration is compulsory for international companies planning to enter the cryptocurrency market of France. The companies operating under the current French regulatory framework are required to identify and verify beneficial owners of cryptocurrency transactions.
The country plans to fight against anonymous digital transactions with the recent KYC measures.
“This ordinance strengthens the fight against the anonymity of transactions in digital assets by including digital asset service providers (PSAN) among the entities having the ban on keeping anonymous accounts. New regulatory provisions will be presented in order to speed up the launch of the market for digital identity solutions for digital asset transactions. This request, which emanates from actors in the ecosystem, will make it possible to fight against anonymity transactions in digital assets while facilitating user identification,” the official press release states.
EU Crypto Regulations
The European region has made significant progress in terms of the adoption of digital assets. The ECB President, Christine Lagarde supported the need for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) and mentioned that a digital euro will be launched in the next 2 to 4 years. But, the authorities across Europe criticized the use of privately-owned cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Diem.
“FATF, G7, and G20 also underlined the need to act in this way. The Government thus wishes to promote the development of crypto assets under the best conditions of security and attractiveness,” the Finance Minister said.
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