Businesses that provide certain services relating to virtual assets will soon have to meet anti-money laundering and countering of financing of terrorism obligations, the Central Bank has warned.
The European Union’s fifth anti-money laundering directive (5AMLD) has extended the obligations to new entities.
As such, Ireland is transposing its provisions into domestic legislation that is expected to be enacted shortly and will take effect at the beginning of April.
The new laws will apply to firms providing the following services relating to virtual assets: exchange between virtual assets and fiat currencies; exchange between one or more forms of virtual assets; transfer of virtual assets; custodian wallet provider; and participation in, and provision of, financial services related to an issuer’s offer or sale of a virtual asset or both.
Once the new legislation comes into force, firms providing virtual asset services will be subject to a number of new requirements.
They must first register with the Central Bank when the new laws come into effect, and comply with a range of new obligations, the details of which can be found on the Central Bank's website.
