The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has reported that there are just 58 out of 128 reporting jurisdictions advising that they have implemented any of the updated FATF standards, including the “travel rule.”
This reportedly aligns with what CipherTrace has found through their extensive work with the FATF and with major virtual asset service providers or VASPs — “identifying the Sunrise Problem as a fundamental issue, wherein adoption of regulations inevitably occurs at different rates around the globe.”
CipherTrace’s Traveler solution is meant to help VASP’s in “ensuring Travel Rule Compliance by helping to automate some of the information-sharing process with minimal cost and effort.”
As more jurisdictions across the globe are expected to implement Travel Rule regulations, the feature/functionality in the CipherTrace Web Application “helps to enable compliance with the Travel Rule.”
The update from the blockchain security firm also mentioned that CipherTrace Traveler helps financial organizations and cryptocurrency exchanges “comply with global ‘Travel Rule’ regulations and Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations” by offering a way to “securely share required beneficiary and originator information related to transactions with other VASPs.”
CipherTrace Traveler assists Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPS) in their work to “comply with global ‘Travel Rule’ regulations by securely sharing cryptocurrency transaction information with other vetted VASPs.”
It enables AML compliance and operational continuity “in jurisdictions that enforce Travel Rule regulations by enabling secure exchange transaction confirmations,” the update explained.
The following nations have enacted regulations to enforce the Travel Rule:
- United States
- Canada
- Japan
- Singapore
- South Korea
- Switzerland
In addition, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, the EU, and Hong Kong, among others, have “proposed regulations to make the Travel Rule applicable to virtual currency transactions in their countries.”
Since the Travel Rule guidance hasn’t been accepted and passed into law worldwide, one of “the challenges for VASPs has been timely compliance with their jurisdiction’s Travel Rule Regulations based on FATF Guidelines.”
The Challenge for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs):
- How to undertake required counterparty due diligence
- How to securely and reliably exchange required information without compromising PII
- How to implement the Travel Rule guidance with minimal costs and effort
- How to minimize disruption to customers
The CipherTrace Traveler Web Application is “designed to assist Virtual Asset Service Providers in complying with global “Travel Rule” regulations by securely sharing cryptocurrency transaction information with other vetted VASPs.”
The CipherTrace Traveler product “enables AML compliance and operational continuity in jurisdictions that enforce Travel Rule regulations by enabling secure exchange transaction confirmations.”
According to the update, this is “an important product release for a number of reasons.”
Here are key highlights of the CipherTrace Web App:
- Provides the ability to “transmit Travel Rule information to any Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP), regardless of whether or not they have an existing Travel Rule solution in place.”
- Allows for “storing Travel Rule messages without sending them, which is a requirement in several jurisdictions.”
- Offers automated notifications. If the beneficiary VASP is not a TRISA (Travel Rule Information Sharing Alliance) member, an email with a link to a sign-up page will be automatically sent to the beneficiary VASP notifying them that Travel Rule information is available.
- Supports exchange of travel-rule required information between any VASPs, “solving the ‘Sunrise Issue’ (regulations may take effect at different times around the globe as the sun rises) by automatically alerting compliance officers at destination virtual asset providers when travel-rule required information has been made available.”
To learn more about this update, check here.