European Parliament Approves Anti-Money Laundering Laws Targeting Crypto and Beneficial Ownership Information Access

The European Parliament has passed a comprehensive set of anti-money laundering laws that target various financial services and entities, including cryptocurrency. The laws include enhanced due diligence measures and checks on customers' identity, and will give journalists and other interested entities free and direct access to beneficial ownership information in national registries. The package also establishes an anti-money laundering authority based in Frankfurt to oversee the implementation of the relevant frameworks. The EU Council still needs to formally adopt the package for it to become law, but concerns have been raised by crypto policy watchers that the requirements imposed on digital assets may be unfairly strict compared to other financial sectors.