The end of the privacy coin? The new EU regulations target XMR, Zcash...
At the heart of the EU's Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR), which will be implemented in two years' time, is a total ban on anonymous crypto accounts and privacy coins, and under Article 79 of the AMLR, credit institutions, financial institutions, and cryptoasset service providers (CASPs) will all be prohibited from maintaining anonymous accounts or handling privacy coins.
The European Union's Encryption Initiative (EUCI) handbook also confirms that this provision explicitly prohibits anonymous accounts, in order to increase transaction transparency and prevent illegal activities. That is to say, in the past year, some European exchanges have successively transferred Monero (XMR), Zcash... When the privacy coin is taken off the shelves, the chances of re-listing are even slimmer, and this is tantamount to putting a tight spell on the development of DeFi, and the details will have a significant impact.
AMLR is part of the EU's anti-money laundering framework, which is not only for cryptocurrencies, but also for traditional financial anonymity instruments. Although the main framework has been decided, the specific details will be refined by the EBA and other institutions through the implementation of the law, which means that centralized CASPs regulated by MiCA (Crypto Asset Market Regulation) need to plan for compliance in advance.
AMLA monitoring and transaction transparency
It is understood that the new Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) will oversee the compliance of CASPs for cross-border operations. AMLA will screen directly supervised entities based on "materiality thresholds" such as the number of clients or trading volume, and is expected to initially supervise 40 entities from July 2027 onwards, ensuring at least one in each member state.
In addition, the new rules mandate customer due diligence (KYC) for transactions over €1,000 (US$1,100), and even strengthen due diligence in line with traditional banking standards.
Market Challenges and the Privacy Debate
It can be expected that after the new regulations are put on the road, the EU's CASPs will face greater compliance pressure, especially when it comes to self-custody wallets and cross-border transactions, which require enhanced KYC/AML, and some traders may move to relaxed jurisdictions.
At the same time, it has also sparked a debate on financial anonymity and privacy, is this new regulation necessary to combat financial crime, or is it an excessive restriction on crypto innovation and privacy? The details and global chain reactions after the implementation in the future deserve the industry's continued attention.
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