As the European Union (EU) prepares to take another important vote that might determine the future of cryptocurrencies. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong reiterates that the EU is on the verge of making “poor policy ideas around crypto.”
The EU Parliament will vote on the modification to the Transfer of Funds Regulation on Thursday, March 31. Coinbase’s main executives feel that if this draught passes, the ramifications will be disastrous, as they described in a blog post on March 28.
It’s important we keep pushing back on bad policy proposals around crypto. This time in the EU.https://t.co/4Zls6DaAe9
— Brian Armstrong – barmstrong.eth (@brian_armstrong) March 29, 2022
The EU is on the verge of making “poor policy ideas around crypto.”
The EU Parliament will vote on the modification to the Transfer of Funds Regulation on Thursday, March 31. Coinbase’s main executives feel that if this draught passes, the ramifications will be disastrous, as they described in a blog post on March 28.
“This revision would unleash an entire surveillance regime on exchanges like Coinbase, stifle innovation, and undermine the self-hosted wallets that individuals use to securely protect their digital assets.”
Paul Grewal also documented the proposal’s proponents’ use of “false information” about cryptocurrencies to support the amendments. They include criminals using digital assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) to move money beneath the radar of law enforcement, as well as the fact that acquiring personal data from self-hosted wallets is not considered a privacy infringement.
On the other hand, he described cryptocurrencies as “a significantly inferior approach for criminals to mask unlawful financial activities,” pointing out that cash remains the most widely used form of payment.
Moreover, Mr. Paul Grewal claims that law enforcement can use advanced analytics to track and trace crypto transfers, which are permanently registered on the blockchain, which is not possible with cash. Additionally, such examinations do not violate established privacy expectations.
According to the EU proposal, wallet users would face a slew of new privacy intrusions, as well as “new obligations on exchanges to collect, verify, and report information on non-customers using self-hosted wallets,” including every transfer worth more than 1,000 EUR from these wallets.
“It goes against core EU data protection principles of data reduction and proportionality to require exchanges to collect, validate, and retain extensive data about non-customers,” Grewal continued.
Lastly, Grewal, like Armstrong, has encouraged people to speak up and take action “before it’s too late.” The European Parliament earlier voted against a proposed ban on cryptography’s Proof-of-Work (PoW) mechanism, which would have put crypto mining and use on EU land in peril.
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