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European Parliament’s 31 March vote was dubbed the crucial day for the crypto community. It was the day that decided on what the future of the unhosted wallets would look like and what changes the European Parliament could bring post the vote.
On Thursday, the European Parliament ruled in favour of the need to outlaw anonymous crypto transactions. More than 90 lawmakers came under one roof to vote on the proposal, seeing the anti-money laundering (AML) requirements applied to all conventional payments over EUR 1,000 ($1,114) to the crypto sector.
This effectively does that going forward, the information about the sender and receiver of even the smallest crypto transactions would need to be identified, including for transactions with unhosted or self-hosted wallets.
Also read: What is Bakery Token (BAKE), why is it trending?
What’s the main point of concern?
The anticipated vote had already witnessed a series of discussions from the industry leaders and the European Parliament officials. In fact, European Union ambassadors in December last year had, in fact, agreed to expand on the definition of fund transfer rules. The proposal primarily aimed to ensure that the exchanges collect and share information about all crypto transfers.
Legislators had hoped that they would also be able to track the information of the transfers made between the crypto service providers and the unhosted wallets. An unhosted wallet primarily means that individuals maintain their private keys to delineate between assets controlled by a financial institution acting as custodians and individuals.
How is the industry responding?
The vote has certainly not gone down well with the industry leaders. In fact, industry leaders such as Markus Ferber feel that the European Union will fall behind other nations with this vote. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, too in a tweet, dubbed the vote as “anti-innovation, anti-privacy, and anti-law enforcement”. He added that the latest draft would mean that the transfer of funds regulation treats crypto and everyone who holds crypto differently from fiat.
Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino, too echoed similar sentiments. Ardoino felt that the need for crypto service providers to collect and verify personal data related to self-hosted wallets transfers raises essential data and privacy concerns and represents a significant step back for human rights.
Pascal Gauthier, the Chairman and CEO of Ledger, too expressed his disappointment by saying that the European Parliament chose fear over freedom with this vote. He added that Web3 or the “Internet of value” could also be affected by this decision.
Conclusion
One thing is for sure with this vote, we could see increased regulation, and this could also perhaps stifle the way exchanges operate. From here, it will now be moved to the EU Council, and once they too are in agreement, it could soon become law.
