The European Union’s new anti-money laundering rules will ban anonymous accounts and privacy coins by 2027.
According to The AML Handbook: A Guide for Crypto Activities, recently published by the European Crypto Initiative (EUCI), the new EU regulations will explicitly prohibit the use of anonymous accounts on exchanges and privacy-focused cryptocurrencies like Monero (XMR) and Zcash (ZEC).
In its handbook, the EUCI stated:
“The anonymity of crypto-assets poses significant risks of misuse for criminal purposes.”
This recent document reaffirms what European institutions had already established with anti-money laundering legislation passed last year, which is set to take effect in 2027.
Obligations for service providers
To comply with the new anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (CFT) requirements, CASPs will no longer be allowed to offer or maintain anonymous accounts, nor “any mechanism enabling advanced obfuscation of transactions, including through anonymity-enhancing coins.”
These restrictions will not apply to hardware or software providers, nor to creators of non-custodial wallets, provided they do not have access to or control over those wallets.
However, CASPs will be required to not only verify users’ identities but also collect additional information regarding the origin and destination of digital assets. All crypto transactions exceeding €1,000 ($1,100) will require mandatory customer identity verification (Know Your Customer procedures).
Another key aspect of the new framework is the EU Anti-Money Laundering Authority’s (AMLA) plan to select up to 40 CASPs for direct supervision by July 1, 2027 — with at least one based in each EU member state. Each of these CASPs will operate in no fewer than six member states, serve at least 20,000 clients, and handle total transaction volumes of €50 million.
