Switzerland Limits Anonymous Crypto Transactions to CHF1,000

The Swiss Financial market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has approved an anti-money laundering stipulation.

Highlighting added threat, the ceiling for anonymous cryptocurrency exchange trades has been lowered to CHF 1,000 (~$1,000), from CHF 5,000.

The stipulation follows the approval of the updated Financial Services Act and Financial Institutions Act, which became effective on January 1.

FINMA unveiled the amended ordinance as reprisal to these acts and will conduct a discussion on carry through regulation up to April 9.

One of the major modifications in the latest stipulation is the standardization of Swiss national norms with the Financial Action Task Force or FATF’s instructions from June 2019.

The global body suggested a peak transaction ceiling of $1,000 for anonymous cryptocurrency exchange functions.

All financial service providers having operations related to cryptos will have to compulsorily obtain information related to anyone carrying out transactions valued at over $1,000.

The data must be periodically filed with the authorities for examination.

The effort is one of the steps taken across the world to implement stringent anti-money laundering regulation.

By enforcing the guideline, FINMA is “acknowledging the heightened money-laundering risks” in cryptocurrency dealings, as per the media release.

The European Union has also enforced its Fifth Anti Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD), which became effective this year.

The latest regulation particularly responds certain types of crypto dealings, specifically necessitating stringent client data reporting.