Europe: Should a total ban on crypto-currencies be considered?

The scrutiny of crypto-currencies is growing. Although some countries have been interested in scrutinizing crypto-currencies in the past, cryptos have never been under as much scrutiny as they are today. This is closely related to the growth of the crypto-currency market, and although it is going through a difficult time, the scrutiny has not stopped, in fact, it has increased much more.

This time, Europe said it was considering banning transactions for crypto-currency wallets that remain anonymous. According to the latter, if there are no more anonymous wallets, the number of illegal activities using crypto-currencies will decrease significantly, because it will be easier to trace the transactions and associate them with a person.

This is probably one of the most important regulatory measures that the European Commission intends to take. So far, its intention is to regulate the crypto-currency market with laws to prevent illegal activities such as money laundering and terrorist financing from being conducted with crypto-currencies.

As stated by the European Commission, this restriction is being considered for every service provider that deals with crypto-currencies. Many crypto-currency exchanges or similar providers allow their users to hold wallets and conduct transactions without providing any further identity information, but this may come to an end.

It is anticipated that each user with a crypto-currency wallet will be required to provide service providers with a set of identifying information. This could reduce illegal activities, but also raise the security standards of the market. Thus, investment opportunities would increase.

It should be noted that whenever regulation is mentioned, there is a lot of fear, because we understand regulations as bans, and although this has happened in the past, it does not seem to be the case in Europe. So far, there has been no talk of a total ban on the use of crypto-currencies, which could actually be a good thing.

Is a ban on Chinese model possible?

It wouldn’t be the first time a region decided to ban crypto-currencies outright. China did just that last year, prompting many regulators to take a closer look at crypto-currencies.

At this point, it’s unknown what regulatory actions Europe will take next, but what we do know is that there are many more regulations coming down the pike that could help or hurt the use of crypto-currencies and investors. Apparently, Europe’s attitude is not very restrictive, but that could change if they want to protect the economy more.