Closing the Loopholes: FATF Warns Incomplete Crypto Regulations Are Fueling Illicit Finance

While the institution recognized that most jurisdictions are working to apply its recommendations, others are lagging, allowing criminal groups to use digital assets for their illicit purposes. The FATF alerted to the misuse of stablecoins and the risks of offshore VASPs.

Key Takeaways

• FATF’s updated report noted 83% of surveyed jurisdictions advanced crypto regulations and the Travel Rule.
• The task force urged stronger oversight of offshore virtual asset providers to close illicit regulatory gaps.
• FATF warned criminals exploit weak links, citing a new illicit stablecoin designed to resist asset freezing.

Financial Action Task Force Calls for Increased Oversight on Digital Assets

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has issued its 7th Targeted Update on Implementation of the FATF Standards on Virtual Assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers. This report describes the state of digital asset regulation and the remaining weak points in the oversight of criminal activity.

While the report acknowledges that crypto regulations and the implementation of FATF Recommendation 15, including the Travel Rule, have advanced in 83% of surveyed jurisdictions, 11 jurisdictions are still working on this.

Recommendation 15 calls for the regulation of Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) and the monitoring of existing Anti-Money Laundering / Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) risks.

On Thursday, the FATF called for further work on regulation, licensing, and registration of VASPs to address the remaining gaps that are leveraged by threat actors for illicit purposes.

Dealing with offshore VASPs, institutions that are registered in jurisdictions with weak or underdeveloped regulations and can offer their services in other markets, is mentioned as a challenge for risk mitigation in some jurisdictions.

The misuse of stablecoins is also a relevant factor for the FATF, which registered a case of the issuance of a stablecoin by a Cambodia-based money laundering node that was marketed as immune to asset freezing, a feature common to all regulated centralized stablecoins.

FATF President Giles Thomson highlighted that the implementation of FATF standards can no longer be delayed, as “criminal networks continue to abuse virtual assets for illicit purposes and exploit their borderless nature to commit fraud and scams, evade sanctions and launder the proceeds of crime.”

“Governments and the private sector must work together to strengthen preventive measures and close regulatory gaps, bolster cross-border co-operation and deny criminals the opportunity to exploit weak links in the global system,” he concluded.