On March 28, the European Parliament will vote on a text change to the Anti-Money Laundering Act (TFR). The deputies introduced an article in the draft law in advance, which caused an uproar in the crypto space. This aimed to set a cap on commercial transactions in crypto wallets whose owners are not fully identified. The upper limit was set at 1,000 euros. Only EU-licensed crypto service providers could have processed payments above this limit. The industry fears that this amendment will interfere with existing draft legislation (particularly by the MiCA regulation) and hinders innovation in the decentralized finance sector.
Euro MEPs backtrack
Industry opposition has now been taken into account. Loud Information from The Block policy makers have decided to return to the original text of the commercial payments proposal. In the latest version of the draft law, the upper limit for such transactions is 7,000 euros. The draft provides for exceptions for payments between private individuals (“interpersonal payments”).
The return to the original wording means that while there is still a transaction cap for self-hosted addresses. “Except for the customer or beneficial owner of such self-hosted addresses can be identified,” according to The Block in the draft.
The Secretary General of the Blockchain For Europe lobby group, Robert Kopitsch, told the news portal: “The reality is that unless the EU allows all traders to [Krypto-Asset-Dienstleistern] wants to do under MiCA, the payment of goods and services via a self-hosted wallet is already sufficiently well regulated in the TFR.”
Final decision is still pending
The joint committee will vote on the legal text tomorrow, March 28th. However, this can be changed again, since it still has to go through the trialogue in the legislative process. During this process, the EU Parliament, the European Council and the European Commission will take a stand. Only then can the law be finalised.
MEPs also added a mandate for the European Commission to assess whether to adjust the commercial payments rule in three years.
