Crypto glossary
EU Anti-Money Laundering package (AMLA)
The EU anti-money laundering package is a 2024 set of laws creating a single AML rulebook, a sixth directive and a new authority, AMLA, covering crypto.
Adopted in 2024, the package has three parts. The Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR) sets directly applicable rules on customer due diligence, beneficial ownership and reporting for all obliged entities, including crypto-asset service providers, and applies from July 2027. The sixth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD6) covers national supervisors, financial intelligence units and registers. A third regulation created the Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA), based in Frankfurt, which started operating in 2025.
Several provisions target crypto. The AMLR bars CASPs from keeping anonymous accounts or accounts that allow the use of anonymity-enhancing coins, and tightens checks on transfers involving self-hosted wallets. AMLA will coordinate national supervisors and directly supervise a limited number of large, high-risk cross-border financial firms, which can include CASPs.
The package replaces the earlier series of directives, the fifth of which first brought crypto exchanges and custodian wallet providers into EU AML rules in 2020, and works alongside MiCA and the transfer of funds regulation.
Example
An EU exchange begins removing privacy coins and closing accounts linked to them ahead of the AMLR deadline, and prepares for possible direct supervision by AMLA.