What legislation impacts the use of cryptocurrency?

1. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF): The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an inter-governmental organization established to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. As cryptocurrency becomes more widely used, FATF has increased its focus on regulating it. In 2019, the organization released new guidance for countries on how to regulate virtual assets and virtual asset service providers such as exchanges. This guidance is expected to have a significant impact on how governments approach cryptocurrency regulation.

2. Securities Laws: Depending on how they are structured, some cryptocurrencies can be considered “securities” under certain jurisdictions’ laws. This means that they may be subject to certain regulations regarding their sale, trading, and use. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has gone so far as to declare certain tokens to be considered securities, and has taken enforcement action against companies that it believes violated the law in their dealings with digital assets.

3. Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) Laws: Many countries have enacted laws requiring companies dealing in cryptocurrencies to implement anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) measures. These measures, which aim to detect and prevent illegal activity related to cryptocurrencies, generally require exchanges to take specific steps to verify the identity of users, which can include collecting evidence of user’s physical address, ID document, and source of funds.