The Central Bank of Russia plans to regulate anti-money laundering verification services for cryptocurrency transactions

According to Bits.media, the Russian government's bill on cryptocurrency regulation will be revised during its second reading, aiming to grant the central bank the authority to set requirements for anti-money laundering verification services for cryptocurrency transactions. Alexey Yakovlev, head of the Financial Policy Department of the Ministry of Finance, stated that he hopes to authorize the central bank to impose requirements on AML services, enabling them to verify whether transactions comply with current Russian laws and regulations.

A representative from the Ministry of Finance stated that the authorities plan to mandate AML services to consider an "external perspective," analyzing the performance of Russian cryptocurrency wallets in international services and the "image of the Russian system formed abroad." At the same time, such services must "maintain the confidentiality of Russian financial infrastructure," not disclosing their operational principles and internal process details to outsiders. AML services are platforms that help users verify the risks of cryptocurrency wallets concerning international sanctions, anti-money laundering, and counter-terrorism financing. Currently, the main regulatory body for such platforms in Russia is the Federal Financial Monitoring Service of the Russian Federation.