Two blockchain platforms, both proof-of-stake, are trying to stay on the right side of the Financial Action Task Forceâs (FATF) âTravel Rule.â
In separate announcements on Thursday, the Algorand and Tezos Foundations said they had linked up with two analytics companies, Chainalysis and Coinfirm, respectively, to help bake regulatory compliance into their eponymous blockchains.
Itâs been very nearly a year since the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global anti-money laundering (AML) watchdog, updated its guidance for nations to stipulate that crypto companies must store and disclose information about senders and receivers, above a certain transaction threshold.
In Algorandâs case, Chainalysis will provide a know-your-transaction (KYT) solution, allowing its foundation to monitor large volumes of on-chain activity for the native ALGO token and report any suspicious transactions to the authorities.
While Algorand emphasizes that the new integration will enhance trust and security, the specter of regulation is never too far away. As it says in a press release, the new integration will enable the foundation to âfulfill their regulatory obligations to report suspicious activity.â
In a statement, Fangfang Chen, the Algorand Foundationâs chief operating officer, said the integration would allow it to meet regulatory requirements in Singapore. âWe needed a compliance partner that could not only help us adhere to regulations in Singapore where we are based but also global regulatory best practices,â she said.
Over the past 12 months, some national regulators have transposed FATFâs âTravel Ruleâ into local law. The U.Sâ Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), one of the first regulators to implement the Travel Rule back in May 2019, has continued with a minimum threshold of $3,000.
Singapore announced in January that parties involved in crypto transactions worth more than 1,500 Singapore dollars (around US$1,100) would have to be ready to disclose identities.
Chainalysis told CoinDesk that while the integration was not a âcomprehensive solution to Travel Rule compliance,â it would help the Algorand Foundation meet some of the requirements, including picking out transactions that trigger the Travel Rule, as well as identifying relevant senders and receivers.
âFATFâs guidance states that automated transaction monitoring and customer risk scoring are essential components of an effective anti-money laundering program,â a spokesperson said in an email. âChainalysis provides the transaction monitoring software required to hold a license in Singapore and comply with regulatory requirements in other FATF jurisdictions.â
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Tezosâ tie-up with Coinfirmâs is broader, allowing its foundation and commercial entities such as exchanges to monitor activity on the protocol. Rather than a partnership, itâs more that Coinfirmâs AML Platform will be available for Tezos and XTZ transactions.
Generally, though, Tezosâ deal with Coinfirm runs along the same lines as Algorandâs integration with Chainalysis.
âOne of the largest roadblocks for the growth of blockchain protocols and cryptocurrencies in the global regulated market has been focused on AML compliance regulations,â reads a press release. âAML has become a required feature for protocols and related assets who want a leadership position in the market and the capability to operate in regulated markets globally.â
Speaking to CoinDesk, Coinfirm CEO and co-founder Pawel Kuskowski said FATF, and broader AML compliance, were among the main motivations behind Tezosâ integration with its AML platform.
âIt will allow entities using XTZ and its ecosystem to become FATF compliant under AML requirementsâ¦while paving the way for them to further implement Travel Rule dedicated solutions,â he said. âOverall, the greatest inhibiting factor when it comes to the growth of protocols is AML-related regulations.â
For protocols to work in regulated markets, they have to meet set guidelines. âThe Tezos integration [with Coinfirm] allows for XTZ to operate according to AML guidelines in regulated markets including FATF AML guidelines,â Kuskowski said.
The Tezos Foundation declined to comment for this article.
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The Travel Rule was met with trepidation when first unveiled. Many in the industry were concerned it could spell the end for cryptocurrency transactions by eroding user privacy and making the compliance burden on exchanges and other companies too much to bear.
But while there have been some negative effects, such as options exchanges Deribit being pushed out of the Netherlands, in other ways it may be good for the industry: Germanyâs second-largest exchange, Boerse Stuttgart, said the strong AML rules have made crypto attractive to a growing institutional audience.
And it isnât only Tezos and Algorand that have made themselves FATF compliant. Soon after the Travel Rule guidance was announced, Coinfirm inked a deal with Ripple to tag transactions on the XRP ledger that may have been laundered through mixer services.
Cryptocurrency intelligence provider CipherTrace has also rolled out its own solution, allowing wallet services and exchanges to securely share information about their customers to comply with the Travel Rule.
A year on, and with the Travel Rule now being enacted into local laws, it appears that instead of scurrying away, the crypto industry is simply adapting to the new regulatory landscape.