FATF to Publish First Rules for Crypto Regulation Next Year

2018-10-22

Investing.com - Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrency prices were little changed on Monday. Reports that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will publish its first rules for cryptocurrency regulation by June 2019 took center stage.

Bitcoin inched up 0.1% to $6,602.6 by 1:40 AM ET (05:40GMT) on the Bitifinex exchange, Ethereum fell 0.4% to $208.5 and Litecoin was little changed at $54.02. XRP slipped 0.7% to $0.46618 on the Poloniex exchange.  

The FATF said in a statement that the new rules will require every jurisdiction to properly license or regulate crypto exchanges and some firms to provide encrypted wallets.

"As part of a staged approach, the FATF will prepare updated guidance on a risk-based approach to regulating virtual asset service providers, including their supervision and monitoring; and guidance for operational and law enforcement authorities on identifying and investigating illicit activity involving virtual assets," FATF said.

"In light of the rapid development of the range of financial functions served by virtual assets, the FATF will also review the scope of activities and operations covered in the amended Recommendations and Glossary in the next 12 months and consider whether further updates are necessary to ensure the FATF Standards stay relevant."

FATF President Marshall Billingslea added that the watchdog will conduct periodic reviews to ensure countries are properly implementing the new rules.

"By June, we will issue additional instructions on the standards and how we expect them to be enforced," he said.

In other news, Masayoshi Amamiya, Bank of Japan's Deputy Governor, said over the weekend that he was not sure if virtual coins could enhance the monetary policies of central banks, and that the Japanese central bank currently has no plans to issue a cryptocurrency any soon.

Source: Investing.com