The European Union’s freshly minted Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) is set to make its home in Frankfurt, the financial hub of Germany, with operations commencing by mid-2025.
The AMLA will wield the power to oversee “high-risk and cross-border financial entities” – including crypto firms – should they traverse borders or carry a high-risk tag.
It will collaborate on its supervisory endeavours with financial intelligence units and regulators across other EU nations.
According to a press release dated Feb. 22 from the Council of the EU and the European Council, Frankfurt emerged triumphant as the chosen city for the agency’s headquarters.
Notably, the city is also home to the European Central Bank. Brussels, Dublin, Madrid, Paris, Rome, Riga, Vilnius, and Vienna had also vied for the spot.
The AMLA’s general board will feature representatives from regulators and financial intelligence units hailing from all EU member states. Meanwhile, the executive board, its governing body, will consist of the chair and five independent full-time members.
The inaugural comprehensive EU crypto framework, the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA), took effect in June 2023.
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However, the enforcement of regulations governing “asset-referenced tokens” and “e-money tokens,” primarily encapsulated under stablecoins, is slated to kick in by June 2024.
Regulations pertaining to “crypto-asset service providers,” encompassing trading platforms, wallet providers, and cryptocurrency exchanges and services, are earmarked for implementation by December 2024.
Simultaneously, the EU has been diligently formulating regulations concerning artificial intelligence (AI).
On Feb. 13, the European Parliament’s Internal Market and Civil Liberties Committees gave their nod to the preliminary agreement on the European AI Act, marking the world’s first legislation squarely focused on AI.
The EU AI Act aims to instate safeguards, inclusive of copyright protection for creators, in response to generative AI models.
Furthermore, it prohibits AI applications that jeopardise citizens’ rights, such as biometric categorisation and social scoring. The maiden parliamentary vote on the AI Act is scheduled for April 2024.
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