The Crypto Travel Rule

In 2019, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) extended the Travel Rule to include cryptocurrency companies. As a result, the Travel Rule has now been implemented in Estonia, and certain changes to cryptocurrency withdrawals at Coinmetro must be enforced.

To help you navigate these changes, here's everything you need to know about the Travel Rule and how it will impact the way you send cryptocurrencies from your Coinmetro account.

What is the Travel Rule?

The FATF Travel Rule is a new requirement for cryptocurrency exchanges, digital wallet providers, and financial institutions that exchange, hold, safe keep, convert, and sell virtual assets. This rule mandates virtual asset service providers, or VASPs, to disclose specific data when transacting crypto assets above a certain threshold.

The objectives of the FATF Crypto Travel Rule are:

• To eliminate the anonymity and secrecy of wallet owners.
• To make transaction monitoring more transparent.
• To reduce fraud and aid in the fight against money laundering, terrorist financing, and other criminal activities in the cryptocurrency space.

What does this mean for Coinmetro?

Coinmetro is now obligated to collect, verify, transmit, and store specific information about the sender and receiver of cryptocurrency withdrawals, due to the implementation of the FATF Travel Rule. As a result, if you are withdrawing crypto to an external wallet address, you will need to confirm the following information:

• Whether you are sending the crypto to your own wallet
• If you are sending to a third party, the recipient's full name and wallet address
• Whether you are sending the crypto to a wallet or another exchange.