The European Union has shot down a petition to have a special fund that receives tax contributions from all European digital currency nodes and compensates Fraud, hacks, and theft victims. The London-based solicitor and attorney Jonathan Levy submitted the petition earlier this year. He proposed creating a fund that would receive a small contribution from each node in Europe, 0.00001 cents per euro for crypto crime victims. This fund was supposed to compensate victims of digital currency fraud, theft, and extortion in Europe.
European Union plans to make more changes to the anti-money laundering framework in 2021.
The European Union’s executive branch rejected the petition in its reply. In its rejection, the Commission pointed to the recent proposal on digital assets regulation in the European Union, which it believes will protect European users. In addition, the region already has the 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD5) that creates legal certainty for users. The Commission also pointed out that it will be making more substantive changes to its anti-money laundering framework next year. The European Commission is also exploring the idea of issuing a digital euro.
Crimes involving cryptocurrencies are a matter of criminal law.
The European Union’s commission pointed out in its rejection that Fraud, extortion, and hacking involving digital currencies are matters of criminal law, and such victims should pursue them through national law enforcement agencies. The Commission further pointed out that these crimes are not specific to cryptocurrencies. In addition, most of the losses incurred through exchange hacks and ICOs are not within the EU. Levy, who had filed the petition, replied to the rejection, saying that if lack of past enforcement is any indication of the future, consumers will continue to be victimized at an ever-growing rate.
