EU extends central contact rules to crypto

TLDR

EU policymakers have moved to apply existing central contact point anti money laundering rules to crypto firms that serve customers across multiple EU countries.

1. The European Commission adopted a delegated act that extends central contact point obligations, previously for payment and e money firms, to crypto asset service providers.
2. Crypto exchanges and other providers will need a local representative in each EU state once activity crosses roughly 3 million a year, with regulators able to impose stricter triggers in higher risk cases.
3. The measure still needs European Parliament and Council scrutiny, so firms should track when it becomes binding and how national supervisors implement it alongside MiCA.

Deep Dive

1. What The EU Changed

According to a recent European Commission delegated act expansion, the EU is extending its central contact point framework to crypto asset firms.

These rules come from Article 45 of the EU anti money laundering directive and already applied to payment institutions and electronic money issuers.

The delegated act aligns crypto asset service providers with that framework so supervisors have a designated person or office inside the EU to liaise with on AML and counter terrorist financing compliance.

2. Practical Impact On Crypto Firms

Under the new framework, a crypto firm must appoint a local central contact point in a host country once its cumulative annual activity there exceeds about 3 million.

Supervisors can also require a contact point below this threshold if they see elevated money laundering or terrorist financing risk.

The definition of establishment is widened to include firms that serve EU customers mainly online with little or no physical presence, so running everything from one hub will not necessarily avoid these obligations.

3. Timeline And What To Watch Next

The delegated act is not yet in force. It goes through scrutiny by the European Parliament and the Council, then becomes binding 20 days after publication in the Official Journal.

Once effective, the rules will apply across all member states without separate national laws, but national supervisors will still decide how aggressively to use the below threshold trigger and how they coordinate with MiCA licensing.

Key signals to watch include national guidance from major markets like Germany, France and the Netherlands, and whether smaller or offshore exchanges decide to scale back EU access rather than build local AML teams.

Conclusion

The EU is tightening its AML perimeter by treating centralized crypto firms more like traditional payment and e money providers, requiring local contact points where they have meaningful activity. For users and institutions, this points to a more regulated and locally accountable crypto market in Europe, but also to higher compliance costs that could reshape which platforms continue serving the bloc.