Ireland Tightens Crypto Regulations to Combat Money Laundering
Ireland has introduced its first comprehensive National Strategy for Combating Money Laundering, Terrorism Financing, and Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction. The new strategy focuses on digital assets and cryptocurrencies, aiming to strengthen regulations and prevent their use in illegal financial flows.
The preparation of the strategy followed Ireland's National Risk Assessment for 2026, which analyzed threats in areas such as money laundering, terrorism financing, and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. According to the new strategy, the country plans to significantly strengthen control over transactions involving crypto assets and digital currencies, with a focus on countering anonymous tools used for moving illegal funds.
The document also includes measures to enhance transparency regarding ultimate beneficial owners of companies, introduce new disclosure requirements for high-risk corporate structures, modernize financial intelligence systems, and improve information sharing between government agencies, law enforcement, tax authorities, financial institutions, and regulators.