Paraguay's anti-money laundering chief Christian Villanueva, the Secretary for Preventing Money and Property Laundering (SEPRELAD), announced last week the country will conduct an audit of the books of all the country's crypto businesses, CoinDesk reported on Tuesday.
According to the announcement, all virtual asset service providers (VASPs) are required to open their books to the authorities.
The country's regulator has reportedly made this decision in order to check the state of the industry in the country while it prepares for the launch of a crypto regulation in the first half of 2020.
According to Christian Villanueva:
"Data obtained will be used to measure the degree of adoption, complexity and size of the virtual asset market in Paraguay, with the purpose of drafting a regulation that adequately regulates them and mitigates the risk of misuse."
The latest guidance issued by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) back in June suggested VASPs should open their books to the authorities, however, this measure is now mandatory.
The new regulations will force crypto-mining companies, OTC desks, exchanges and other VASPs to register their businesses.
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