In brief
- EU's new Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) issues warning to crypto exchanges and service providers about stricter compliance requirements starting this month.
- Regulators must now assess beneficial owners and shareholders of crypto companies to ensure they're not involved in money laundering or terrorist financing.
- New AML rules prohibit anonymous wallets and privacy coins, requiring crypto firms to provide direct government access to account data by July 2027.
The EU’s Anti-Money Laundering Authority, or AMLA, has issued a warning to regulators and virtual asset service platforms, such as crypto exchanges, custodial wallet providers, or crypto ATMs.
Bruna Szego, chair of AMLA, said it was “essential” that the bloc is “adequately protected from the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing stemming from this sector.”
The Frankfurt-based organization, which became operational at the start of the month, is charged with ensuring the EU’s 27 countries comply with its sweeping new set of anti-money laundering regulations.
In an interview with The Financial Times, Szego explained that regulators will be expected to assess “the beneficial owner of crypto asset service providers,” including “who are their shareholders and where are they.”
“We need to be sure the owners are not involved in money laundering or terrorism finance,” she said.
Szego also pointed to some of the AML risks specific to the European crypto market, such as “inconsistent controls” between different EU countries, as well as a “fragmented” market where a multitude of companies are all trying to get regulatory approval under MiCA. She noted risks such as the “diverging application” of rules between national authorities.
Anna Holmes, senior associate in the criminal litigation team at UK law firm Kingsley Napley, told Decrypt it’s important that legitimate firms in the space are ready to meet the AMLA’s requirements “in each of the jurisdictions in which they intend to operate,” noting that these “may be different" depending on the specific EU country.
Holmes thinks that AMLA's tough words on crypto AML are “no surprise” and echo the stringent approach taken by comparable regulators, such as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Under Europe’s new AML regulations, cryptocurrency service providers will be prohibited from providing or interacting with anonymous wallets and privacy coins.
VASPs will be expected to provide “direct, immediate, and unfiltered access” to crypto-asset account data to government agencies such as the bloc's various Financial Intelligence Units and the EU-wide Anti-Money Laundering Authority. These rules will apply fully from July 2027 onwards.
Crypto firms operating in Europe are no stranger to major anti-money laundering probes. Binance was hit with a €3.3 million fine by the Netherlands’ central bank for failing to follow its AML registration process in July 2022.
Meanwhile, French authorities opened up an anti-money laundering probe into the firm in January 2025 amid suspicions of terrorist financing, including drug trafficking and tax fraud.