The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the anti-money laundering agency that published the first crypto guide in 2019, has published a revised version of the crypto asset guide.
The published guide includes necessary information for companies interested in cryptocurrencies and digital assets.
FATF, which periodically audits 39 countries, including Turkey, underlined the importance of updates by drawing attention to the fact that the virtual asset sector is a dynamic and constantly developing sector in its official written statement.
The FATF stated that the 2021 guide focuses on 6 key areas:
- Clarifying the definitions of virtual assets and VASPs,
- Guidance on how to apply the FATF Standards to stablecoins,
- Additional guidance on the risks and tools available to countries to address money laundering and terrorist financing risks for peer-to-peer transactions.
- Updated guidance on licensing and registration of VASPs.
- Additional guidance for the public and private sectors on the implementation of the “travel rule” and
- Principles of knowledge sharing and collaboration among VASP Supervisors.
In its initial guidance, the FATF called on cryptocurrency exchanges and virtual asset service providers (VASPs) to meet the standards applied to traditional financial companies.
However, as a result of the criticisms and the reports obtained during the implementation of the guide, the FATF decided to update the guide and published the guide that included the regulations on NFT and DeFi.
In the guide, it was pointed out that the DeFi field is developing very rapidly, and it was stated that organizations in this sector must comply with money laundering rules.
In addition, it was stated that the DeFi sector should be included in the regulation studies to be carried out in the field of crypto money.
It was regulated that if NFTs excluded from the FATF’s definition of virtual assets were regulated, the standards of FATF as a type of financial asset would also apply to NFTs.