BitGo, a crypto custodian-turned financial service provider, has announced its compliance with the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) Recommendation 16, popularly known as Travel Rule, for both its cold and hot wallets.
Sharing with Finance Magnates, the California-headquartered firm detailed that it is extending existing API endpoints for clients to append the additional data required for the compliance.
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The FATF brought the Recommendation 16 last year for the virtual asset service providers (VASPs), especially the exchanges and other crypto-related firms, to collect transactional information, thus verifying and keeping records of users’ identities, and that they must pass customer information to each other when transferring funds.
This, according to the international body, will help in eliminating the possibility of money laundering and other illicit activities using digital currencies.
Keeping the recommendations as base, different jurisdiction are now creating their own versions of regulatory frameworks for curbing financial crimes using Cryptocurrencies .
BitGo, with its initiative, is becoming the first crypto wallet provider to comply with FATF recommendations.
“We are currently building the technology that will send and receive travel data in order for BitGo to be compliant as a VASP for our custodial clients,” BitGo CEO Mike Belshe said. “We are able to offer this technology to our Exchange clients and, in the process, assist them with the new FATF standards for digital asset compliance.”
The crypto company detailed that its extended API will collect the information of the originators and beneficiaries involved in a cryptocurrency transaction greater than $1,000, as recommended by the FATF, thus providing more visibility.
Though established as a cryptocurrency custodian, BitGo has expended its offerings aggressively. It turned itself into a prime brokerage and is also offering lending services. For managing its European business, the company also set up local entities in Germany and Switzerland.
