EU Plans To Create Database of Bitcoin Users With Identities and Wallet Addresses (softpedia.com)

An anonymous reader writes from a report via Softpedia: "The European Commission is proposing the creation of a database that will hold information on users of virtual currencies," reports Softpedia. "The database will record data on the user's real world identity, along with all associated wallet addresses." The database will be made available to financial investigation agencies in order to track down users behind suspicious operations. The creation of this database is part of a regulatory push that the EU got rolling after the Paris November 2015 terror attacks, and which it officially put forward in February 2016, and later approved at the start of July 2016. Legally, this is an attempt to reform the Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD). The current draft is available here. The current AMLD draft reads: "The report shall be accompanied, if necessary, by appropriate proposals, including, where appropriate, with respect to virtual currencies, empowerments to set-up and maintain a central database registering users' identities and wallet addresses accessible to FIUs, as well as self-declaration forms for the use of virtual currency users."

Comments

Re:Really?

[Entrope]

You overlooked the "self-declaration" forms for people using virtual currencies. That translates to making it illegal to use Bitcoin (etc.) without telling the government about your wallet(s) -- probably upon pain of hefty fines. You might not get caught if you only keep funds in Bitcoin form, but if you ever try to redeem it for goods or services in Europe, be prepared to fess up.

Re:Really?

[Dunbal]

But you're assuming - or THEY are assuming - that every place that bitcoin came from is from a wallet in a country subject to their silly law. What can they do if the trail is from a wallet that was created in Panama, for example? Prove that Panama to me is an illegitimate transaction AND that I actually own the wallet in Panama. Trivial to set up with VPN's and/or friends/relatives who are actually outside your country. Again, politicians fail to realize that their laws are limited by geography whereas the internet knows no borders.