UK government walks back from controversial crypto data collection plan

The UK government on Monday walked back from plans to collect personal information from private crypto wallets. 

Last July, the UK Treasury office released a consultation document on cryptocurrencies which stated that financial standards should be consistent across all financial services — including cryptocurrency. 

The document proposed that people that wished to send funds to private crypto wallets would need to collect the recipient's personal identification when doing so. 

This was in reference to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards — aimed at preventing money laundering and the funding of terror activities — which require the sender and recipient of funds to be identified properly.

Under this rule, transfers below a certain threshold — the July 2021 document proposed this to be £1,000 — would require limited information. Anything above this threshold would require the sender to provide more personal information about the beneficiary. 

"Instead of requiring the collection of beneficiary and originator information for all unhosted wallet transfers, cryptoasset businesses will only be expected to collect this information for transactions identified as posing an elevated risk of illicit finance,” according to the amended release on Monday.