BIS Warns Crypto Self-Custody Could Become New AML Loophole
A new BIS paper warns that self-custodied crypto wallets could become a significant loophole in anti-money laundering (AML) enforcement if regulatory gaps are not addressed. The report highlights that as regulated payment channels face stricter rules, illicit financial flows may shift towards self-hosted wallets, which operate without intermediaries and thus avoid customer due diligence, transaction monitoring, and suspicious activity reporting.
The paper argues that these wallets may be more attractive for illegal activities than cash due to their digital ease of transfer, cross-border efficiency, and lack of physical constraints. This creates a “waterbed effect,” where tightening one area of regulation simply displaces risk to another.
Using the EU as a case study, the authors note that while hosted crypto services are now integrated into AML frameworks, self-custody wallets remain largely outside direct oversight. The absence of transaction limits, unlike the €10,000 cap on cash, could incentivize malicious actors to migrate to self-hosted crypto assets, thereby undermining overall AML efforts.
bitcoinist03/11 05:32
