More and more jurisdictions are regulating virtual asset service providers, according to the latest report from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which was published on Thursday 28 March.
52 of these 58 FATF members and jurisdictions have enacted legislation or regulations, or have prohibited the establishment of virtual asset service providers in their jurisdiction. According to the FATF, this is a positive step given that the countries included in the report represent 97% of the global virtual assets sector. But given that virtual assets are inherently international and borderless, a failure to regulate Virtual Asset Service Providers in just one jurisdiction can have serious global implications.
In addition to recent reports of North Korea’s theft and laundering of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of virtual assets for financing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the FATF estimates that approximately $24.2 billion was received into illicit virtual addresses in 2023. Terrorist groups, including Islamic State, Al Qaeda and their affiliates, as well as ethnically or racially motivated terrorist entities, are also known to be increasingly using virtual assets to raise and move funds globally.
To read the report, go to: https://aeur.eu/f/bjv (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)