Will regulation be a blessing or a blow for Bitcoin?The European Commission (EC) wants to update the fourth Anti-Money Laundering directive so that it also covers virtual currencies, such as Bitcoin. In the UK, the Treasury has followed suit by announcing plans to subject virtual currency exchanges to the same regulations as banks.
This isn’t surprising. Gunnar Nordseth, CEO and co-founder of Signicat, muses over the possible implications of the new directive.
Virtual currencies are primarily used for benign purposes, but they’ve yet to throw off their shady reputation. Silk Road meant that it’s connected in most people’s minds with drugs, and the EC wants to regulate these currencies in order to “prevent their abuse for money laundering and terrorist financing purposes”.
Specifically the EC is proposing “to bring virtual currency exchange platforms under the scope of the Anti-Money Laundering Directive, so that these platforms have to apply customer due diligence controls when exchanging virtual for real currencies, ending the anonymity associated with such exchanges”.
It’s unusual for more legislation to be good news, especially with cryptocurrencies, but there’s a chance this could be the making of Bitcoin. If it’s no longer anonymous it might be able to shake off its bad reputation. Virtual currencies can “go legit”.
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http://www.bankingtech.com/458622/will-the-4th-aml-directive-be-a-blessing-or-a-blow-for-bitcoin/
