Privacy coins and the rules in the EU and the UK

This guide sets out what the texts themselves say, for the European Union and the United Kingdom. It is not legal advice.

The EU: AMLR, Article 79

The text most often cited is Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 of 31 May 2024, the Anti-Money Laundering Regulation. Its Article 79(1) prohibits credit institutions, financial institutions and crypto-asset service providers from keeping anonymous crypto-asset accounts, or any account that allows the anonymisation of the account holder or the anonymisation or increased obfuscation of transactions, including through anonymity-enhancing coins.

Article 2 defines those coins:

'anonymity-enhancing coins' means crypto-assets that have built-in features designed to make crypto-asset transfer information anonymous, either systematically or optionally

On its face the definition covers a coin like Monero, where the features are on for every transaction, and a coin where they are optional.

The prohibition is addressed to institutions and providers. Recital 160 adds that it does not apply to providers of hardware and software or of self-hosted wallets, insofar as they do not possess access to or control over those wallets. Article 90 sets the date from which the regulation applies: 10 July 2027. Transfers between a provider and a self-hosted address are a separate matter, under Article 40, on which the EU's new Anti-Money Laundering Authority, AMLA, is to issue guidelines by the same date.

The EU: MiCA and the travel rule

The Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, has applied since 30 December 2024. Its Article 76(3) requires the operating rules of a trading platform to prevent the admission to trading of crypto-assets with an inbuilt anonymisation function, unless their holders and transaction history can be identified by the provider running the platform.

The Transfer of Funds Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2023/1113, applies from the same date and carries the travel rule for crypto-assets: Article 14 sets out the information on the originator that must accompany a transfer between providers.

The UK

In the UK the Financial Conduct Authority has supervised cryptoasset businesses for anti-money laundering purposes since 10 January 2020: exchange providers and custodian wallet providers must register with it under the Money Laundering Regulations. The travel rule has applied since 1 September 2023, under Part 7A of the Money Laundering Regulations 2017.

A wider regime follows. The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Cryptoassets) Regulations 2026 were made on 4 February 2026, and the FCA expects the new regime to come into force on 25 October 2027. The FCA pages on the regime read for this guide do not single out privacy coins, and this guide makes no claim about how the detailed rules will treat them.

Where Monero's own tools come in

These texts address providers, not protocols, and what they ask of a provider is to know its customer and the transfer. Monero already gives a holder ways to disclose on purpose without giving up the rest: a transaction key or a payment proof shows one payment to one party, and a view key shows a wallet's incoming history to an auditor. The view key guide has what each one discloses. Privacy in this sense is a property of the protocol, as encryption is of a connection; disclosure is the holder's choice.

Whether a particular provider can support a coin under these rules is a question for that provider and its regulator, and outside what this site covers.