EU abandons plan to impose $1K payment limit on self-custody crypto wallets

The European Parliament has made amendments to the new anti-money laundering laws, removing the 1,000 euro limit on cryptocurrency payments from self-hosted crypto wallets. The Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee and the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee passed the Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR) on March 19, after provisional agreement was reached in January. The previous proposal to limit businesses to 1,000 euros for transactions using self-hosted crypto wallets was removed, as well as a provision for identity checks on self-hosted wallets receiving funds. However, crypto exchanges, known as Crypto-Asset Service Providers (CASPs) in the EU, are required to carry out customer due diligence on users conducting business transactions of at least 1,000 euros. The new laws also prohibit CASPs from providing accounts for anonymous users or privacy coins such as Monero (XMR). CASPs must also implement measures to verify the identity of the exchange wallet holder for transfers between their platform and self-custody wallets. Cash payments are limited to $10,800 (10,000 euros) and anonymous cash payments over $3,240 (3,000 euros) are banned. The AMLR is expected to be fully operational by 2027, pending approval from the EU Council and the European Parliament plenary. Some members of the crypto community have expressed concerns about the impact of the new laws on privacy and economic activity.