The European Commission is planning a new bill that is going to transform anonymous bitcoins, σε ψηφιακό currency by name. It essentially suggests creating one baseof data that will contain information about users of virtual currencies. On this basis, the details of the real identity of the user will be recorded, along with all the wallet addresses that correspond to it.
This is the first proposal part of a bill prepared by the EU after the terrorist attacks in Paris in November of 2015. The proposal was officially announced in February of 2016 and is about to be approved in July of 2016.
The bill is a reform of the Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD), including the term "virtual currency", and was approved by the EU president's committee.
In addition to recognizing cryptocurrencies as another form of money, the bill also includes some regulations that provide units of financial information and the tools needed to monitoring of digital currencies.
So to combat money laundering through digital currencies, EU officials are planning to create a database linking Bitcoins and other cryptographic currencies with the actual addresses of the owners, effectively putting an end to the anonymity of these payments.
With the proposals in the draft law, all Member States will have the power to create databases and then manage them. But users will also be able to sign up for themselves as a sign of good faith.
The AMLD bill states:
"This report may be accompanied, where appropriate, by appropriate proposals, including, where appropriate in relation to virtual currency, authorizations to set-up and maintain a central database of user identities and wallet addresses, as well as self- statements issued by the owners of the virtual coins for their use. "
The EU is interested in regulating Bitcoins and other similar currencies to make it more difficult for terrorists and criminal groups to use the currency to hide their activities.
Of course we should also mention the possibility of taxing the digital currency, which the bill does not mention, but it is not difficult to imagine ...
The final vote of the European Parliament is expected to take place later in the year.