Report: Financial Action Task Force to Prepare Binding Rules for Crypto Exchanges

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the international group that combats money laundering and terrorism financing, will start developing binding rules for crypto exchanges in June, a Japanese official familiar with the matter told Reuters June 12.

The new rules would be an upgrade to the non-binding resolutions which were adopted by the FATF in June 2015. The FAFT will consider whether existing guidelines on anti-money laundering (AML) measures and reporting suspicious trading activity are still appropriate, and if they can be applied to new exchanges. The intergovernmental organization will also reportedly investigate how to work with countries who have moved to ban cryptocurrencies.

The official stated that Japanese authorities aspire to become a leader in the matter and to promote the adoption of new binding rules by 2019. The official added that Japan’s government hopes to cooperate with the US and European countries on the issue.

The FATF is based in Paris and is composed of 37 different member states. The intergovernmental organization was founded in 1989 at the behest of the G7.  

The recent move by the FATF follows the recent release of a draft on new regulations for crypto exchanges and payment services by the Canadian government. The new rules aim to address a “number of deficiencies” that the FATF outlined in 2015, particularly boosting the country’s AML and crime financing prevention measures.