Meaning and Implementation of the Travel Rule for Crypto Transactions

Switzerland has developed and established itself as one of the leading Blockchain nations within a short period of time. Especially in the financial sector, a very rapid development of so-called cryptocurrencies could be observed. This is primarily because Switzerland has had a rather clear legal position from the very beginning. Nevertheless, some questions have remained open that needed directions from FINMA, especially regarding anti-money laundering.

In August 2019, FINMA published a "FINMA Guidance" on how it applies the applicable Swiss anti-money laundering rules also to financial services providers supervised by FINMA in the area of blockchain technology. This was the so-called travel rule notice. The main point of the travel rule notice is that applicable financial regulations apply for crypto transactions, regardless of the underlying technology. FINMA admits that it can be technically challenging to implement certain requirements of the anti-money laundering regulations in the case of crypto transactions, but nevertheless must be implemented.

At the event, the regulations will be briefly explained by Dr. Katharina Lasota Heller, insights on Travel Rule adoption by a regulated Digital Asset Bank will be given by Lukas Hug and a possible technical solution to comply will be presented by Lucas Betschart.