Cooperation with intelligence services, anonymity: the government is strengthening the constraints applicable to digital assets (crypto-assets) in the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism, with an ordinance adopted by the Council of Ministers on Wednesday.

From now on, "the activities of exchanges of digital assets against other digital assets and the platforms for trading digital assets" will be subject to the "same obligations" as service providers of exchanges between digital assets and traditional currency, indicates the minutes of the council.

These obligations include in particular the assessment of their risks in terms of exposure to money laundering and terrorist financing, their "know your customer and verification of beneficial owners", as well as "cooperation with the intelligence services and the freezing of assets", details the text.

In addition, digital asset service providers will no longer be able to hold anonymous accounts, the order provides.

The use of crypto-assets for criminal purposes has been identified for several years by the financial intelligence service Tracfin as a particularly worrying risk. In September, "a terrorist financing network using transactions in digital assets" was dismantled, recalls Bercy in a press release.

On the other hand, the government has decided to lighten the "prior checks" imposed on certain service providers on digital assets established in France. Only the "most decisive" obligations in the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism will be retained.

This measure aims to "strengthen the attractiveness and competitiveness of the Paris market in the absence of a harmonized European framework in this area", justifies the government, which also wants to support the emergence of national players.

Since the beginning of the year, the government has taken several measures to strengthen the French arsenal in the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism, in particular via the transposition of a European directive of 2016.

French action in this area is currently being scrutinized by the Financial Action Task Force (GAFI), an intergovernmental body created in 1989, which is due to submit its assessment report on the national system next year, while the European Commission must present in 2021 a proposal for an overhaul of the European system for combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism.