Crypto Leaders Propose Open Compliance Protocol For Financial Action Task Force

Today during a panel at BlockShow Asia 2019, a group of cryptocurrency industry leaders announced the creation of a protocol that aims to maintain privacy while complying with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) regulation. 

The FATF’s so-called “travel rule” requires virtual asset service providers (VASPs) like cryptocurrency exchanges to collect and share personal data during transactions. The creators of the proposed protocol say that it enables VASPs to transmit this information in a highly private and secure fashion. The consortium released a whitepaper for the protocol yesterday — it’s called OpenVASP.

The whitepaper outlines a protocol that would let VASPs across multiple jurisdictions transact amongst themselves without necessarily knowing each other, and without the need to register with any central authority. The proposal accounts for structured payment messages, end-to-end encryption, perfect forward secrecy, and a smart contract layer for identity management.

“OpenVASP is a roadmap to FATF compliance that enables VASPs to protect private and business-sensitive data,” said Christine Gschwend, head of the Crypto Valley Association’s anti-money laundering task force. “We hope the community will consider it as a blueprint. Building partners are welcome.”

VASPs interested in contributing to protocol development were encouraged to get in touch via the OpenVASP website.