European Parliament vote AML policy for digital currency exchanges

The 54-to-1 decision was one of the last hurdles for a measure that could lead to the creation of cryptocurrency task force before it is put before vote by the entire European Parliament.

The founder of the European Digital Currency and Blockchain Technology Forum (EDCAB) described the vote as part of a larger movement to regulate virtual currency exchange platforms under existing anti-money laundering (AML) controls.

While passage of the report with near-unanimous agreement might be seen as broad support, the decision was not without effort. The original five-page document was eventually accompanied by an additional 62 pages of amendments.

Under terms of the report, virtual currency exchanges would fall under the purvey of existing AML controls and a new task force for overseeing other digital currency-related businesses would be created.