Implementing the 5th AML Directive into Cyprus legislation: the implications for the crypto-industry

On the 18^th of February 2021, the House of Representatives in Cyprus has voted in favour of the transposition of the 5^th AML Directive (‘AMLD5’) into national legislation. As a result, on the 23^rd of February 2021, Law 13(I)/2021 was published in the Official Government Gazette, amending the current AML legislative scheme in Cyprus (‘the AML Law’).

This is considered as a huge step towards the recognition of crypto-assets which have been approached with caution due to the lack of a clear legislative approach within the EU.

In summary, the implementation of the AMLD5 into national legislation will affect the approach taken towards cryptocurrencies, due to the following regulatory developments:

• The scope of the crypto-asset activity is now defined.
• Crypto-asset service providers dealing with exchanges between crypto assets or exchanges between crypto assets and fiat currencies, custodian wallet providers and other financial services related to crypto-assets are now considered ‘obliged entities’ and are subject to the AML Law. This will enable monitoring and consequently a higher degree of transparency.
• Initiation of a Public Registry relating to crypto-asset service providers that will be operated and kept by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (‘CySEC’). Relevant service provides shall file an application with CySEC, as per the applicable requirements.
• Registered crypto-asset providers will be able to offer their services in Cyprus and/or from Cyprus.
• To combat the risks related to the anonymity, Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs like MOKAS) should be able to obtain information allowing them to associate cryptocurrency addresses to the identity of the owner of cryptocurrencies.

The introduction of the abovementioned legislative provisions will also have an impact on the way banks treat crypto-assets within Cyprus and in general, within the EU. Until now, most of the EU credit institutions had policies of rejecting crypto-asset service providers with the latter being deprived of access to the bank system.

However, this is about to change, as crypto-asset service providers shall now be treated as ‘obliged entities’ under the AML Law, and therefore, merely the fact that, crypto-asset activities are being offered, does not constitute a reason for rejection anymore. The notion will be that, each case will be assessed on a case-by-case basis with crypto-assets service providers to be able to access the bank system, once they show compliance with the AML legislation.