Germany, France Call For Stricter Bitcoin Regulation

While different countries have different stance on Bitcoin, the controversial digital currency, Eurozone member states including Germany and France are concerned over the use of cryptocurrencies for illegal activities and terrorism financing.

According to a recent report published on German news website Heise Online, Germany and France are pushing the EU Council for an “improved regulation and control” of anonymous payment products such as prepaid cards and virtual payment systems, particularly Bitcoin and Ripple.

French Federal Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and former minister of social affairs Michel Sapin have urged the European Commission for stricter regulation of payment systems to combat the financing of terrorism. They advocate setting up of centralized directories of bank accounts in all Member States, according to Google-translated version of the report.

The Federal Ministry of Finance announced that Germany has already taken the necessary procedures to submit a proposal to reform the Customs Administration Act, in order to prevent criminal offenses such as money laundering and terrorism financing more effectively. The proposal seeks to allow the customs to monitor cross-border cash movements as well as electronic money such as bitcoin transactions.

A report from European Commission’s “European Financial Coalition Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children Online” says, “Payment mechanisms providing a certain degree of anonymity are always open to abuse by those with criminal intentions, as developments in the use of Bitcoin show”, NewsBTC reported.

The report goes on to say that Bitcoin is preferred by most of the Darknet vendors; for the purchase of child sexual abuse images and videos and other such criminal activities.

It remains uncertain at the moment that whether European Commission will process the requests of Germany and France for stringent regulations of digital currencies.