The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority has announced it will be extending an Anti-Money Laundering ordinance that requires identity checks for reporting certain crypto transactions.
In a Nov. 2 notice, the Switzerland financial regulator said it would enforce a threshold of 1,000 Swiss francs for transactions of virtual currencies to cash or other anonymous means of payment. According to FINMA, the regulator made the adjustment in accordance with the country’s Anti-Money Laundering Act and its government’s Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance.
“FINMA received numerous responses concerning the specification of the threshold for transactions with virtual currencies,” said the regulator. “In view of the risks and recent instances of abuse, FINMA stands by the rule that technical measures are needed to prevent the threshold of CHF 1000 from being exceeded for linked transactions within thirty days.”
The Swiss financial regulator began enforcing a reporting threshold for unidentified digital currency transactions from 5,000 ($4944) to 1,000 CHF ($988) in January 2020 in response to “heightened money-laundering risks” in crypto. FINMA will extend the adjusted ordinance and regulations, scheduled to go into effect in January 2023.
