Paying with Anonymous Bitcoin Wallets will be Illegal in the European Union
Paying with Anonymous Bitcoin Wallets will be Illegal in the European Union
The European Parliament approved on March 19, with the majority of main committees in favor, new anti-money laundering laws that restrict anonymous payments. This includes both those with euros (EUR) in cash and digital ones with bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrencies.
Precisely, it determines that anonymous cash payments exceeding 3,000 euros in commercial transactions and 10,000 euros in business transactions will be illegal. In addition, it will prohibit payments in crypto assets, regardless of their amount, made with anonymous wallets.
“This means war on cash and gradual erosion of our financial freedom!” said MP Patrick Breyer. This was one of two European Parliament commissioners who voted against the laws.
“Prohibiting anonymous payments would have, at best, minimal effects on crime, but it would deprive innocent citizens of their financial freedom,” he emphasized in a disclaimer he made on his website. «We have the right to pay and donate online without our personal transactions being recorded (…). The medicines or sex toys I buy are no one's business,” he added.
“This means war on cash and gradual erosion of our financial freedom!” said MP Patrick Breyer. This was one of two European Parliament commissioners who voted against the laws.
“Prohibiting anonymous payments would have, at best, minimal effects on crime, but it would deprive innocent citizens of their financial freedom,” he emphasized in a disclaimer he made on his website. «We have the right to pay and donate online without our personal transactions being recorded (…). The medicines or sex toys I buy are no one's business,” he added.
“When every financial transaction is captured and saved forever, this creates a honey pot for malicious hackers and law enforcement, as well as a chilling government shadow over every purchase or donation.”
Patrick Breyer, member of the Pirate party in the European Parliament and fighter for digital freedom.
The parliamentarian who opposed the laws maintained that “this type of deprivation of financial rights must be put to an end.” “This European Union (EU) war on money will have unpleasant repercussions!” he warned.
Payments between anonymous bitcoin wallets are impossible to regulate
Breyer recalled that, for thousands of years, societies around the world have lived with cash to protect financial privacy. In fact, the attempt to protect identity in holdings and capital movements gave rise to bitcoin fifteen years ago, the first digital currency that can be self-custodied in a wallet that is impossible to confiscate.
“If the EU believes it can regulate virtual currencies at a regional level, it has not understood the global nature of the Internet,” Breyer stressed. To clarify, she detailed that the new rules “would be easy to circumvent ,” since bitcoin and cryptocurrencies can be sent between two anonymous self-custody wallets.
“Virtual assets can be transferred directly from one person to another without using intermediaries, making them impossible to regulate,” he explained. Therefore, he suggested that the laws are meaningless.
Furthermore, it indicated that, in cases where virtual assets have been detected in criminal activities in the past, prosecution has been possible without these rules. This has been achieved, he said, through the investigation of on-chain movements that made it possible to find identities.
At the moment, the date on which the laws will come into force has not yet been defined, although it may be within a period of three years. This European Union initiative takes place a week after bitcoin reached a new all-time high price of $73,700 (USD) due to greater demand.