The global digital assets industry is dealing with the regulatory pressure put in by the world’s biggest financial watchdogs. However, the European Parliament has taken a step to strengthen its ability to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. The adoption of new laws holds a link with the crypto industry.
European Parliament’s new move
As per the details shared by the European Parliament, the adopted laws make sure that hat individuals and organizations with a legitimate interest could have direct and free access to information held in national registries. This includes journalists, civil society organizations, and competent authorities. It added this can make a way towards transparency and accountability.
It mentioned that Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) would gain more power to analyze and detect cases of money laundering and terrorist financing. It added that these agencies will also have the power to halt any sort of suspicious transactions. It is expected that this move will help in the fight against financial crime.
It is important to note that banks and crypto asset managers will fall under the newly adopted laws. They will required to follow these measures. However, they would need to run identity checks on customers. The release stated that top-tier professional football clubs’ high-value financial transactions will also come under several provisions.
Will it impact the market?
The adoption of such laws by the EU comes in when the crypto market is in the middle of a bull run. However, this bullish momentum was sparked by anticipation emerging around the launch of spot Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) in the United states. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finally gave approval to open trading of BTC ETFs in January 2024.
The mega approval had helped the crypto market and Bitcoin to regain crucial levels lost over the past years. BTC price has surged by more than 53% in the last 90 days. The biggest crypto is trading at an average price of $64,182, at the press time. Meanwhile, it is still down by 13% from its all time high (ATH) of $73,750 recorded on March 14, 2024. Bitcoin’s 24 hour trading volume stands at around $30 billion. It is holding a market cap of above $1.26 trillion.
The cumulative crypto market cap stands at $2.36 trillion with a 24 hour trading volume of $74 billion.
