The recent European Union proposal requiring centralized crypto exchanges and custodial wallet providers to collect and verify personal information about self-custodial wallet holders shows the dangers of recycling traditional finance (TradFi) rules and applying them to crypto without appreciating the conceptual differences. We can expect to see more of this as countries look to implement the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Travel Rule, initially designed for wire transfers, to transfers of crypto assets.
The aim of the proposed EU rules is “to ensure crypto-assets can be traced in the same way as traditional money transfers.” This assumes that each self-custodial wallet can be linked to someone’s verifiable identity and that this person necessarily controls the wallet. This assumption is wrong.