Travel

FATF agrees on roadmap for implementation of crypto standards

Part of the FATF’s “Travel Rule” includes recommendations that financial institutions obtain information on the originators and beneficiaries of certain crypto transactions.

The Financial Action Task Force, or FATF, has reported that its delegates have come to an agreement on an action plan “to drive timely global implementation” of global standards on cryptocurrencies.

In a Feb. 24 publication, the FATF says the plenary for the financial watchdog — consisting of delegates from more than 200 jurisdictions — met in Paris and reached a consensus on a roadmap aimed at strengthening the “implementation of FATF Standards on virtual assets and virtual asset service providers.” The task force says that in 2024, it will report on how FATF members have moved forward on implementing the crypto standards, including regulation and supervision of VASPs.

“The lack of regulation of virtual assets in many countries creates opportunities that criminals and terrorist financiers exploit,” says the report. “Since the FATF strengthened its Recommendation 15 in October 2018 to address virtual assets and virtual asset service providers, many countries have failed to implement these revised requirements, including the ‘travel rule’ which requires obtaining, holding and transmitting originator and beneficiary information relating to virtual assets transactions.”

Part of the FATF’s “Travel Rule” includes recommendations that VASPs, financial institutions and regulated entities in member jurisdictions obtain information on the originators and beneficiaries of certain digital currency transactions. As of April 2022, the financial watchdog reported that many countries were not in compliance with its Combating the Financing of Terrorism and Anti-Money Laundering standards.

Related: AML and KYC: A catalyst for mainstream crypto adoption

Japan, South Korea and Singapore have been among the countries seemingly most willing to implement regulations in accordance with the Travel Rule. Some nations, including Iran and North Korea, have reportedly been placed on the FATF’s “grey list” for monitoring suspicious financial activity.

Metaverse experience to sway real-world travel choices in 2023: Survey

A survey participated by 24,179 respondents across 32 countries reveal that nearly half, or 43% of the respondents, intend to use virtual reality to inspire their choices.

As borders open up following prolonged COVID-19-induced travel restrictions, the metaverse, one of the latest sub-crypto ecosystems, is set to help travelers decide on the destinations they want to experience in person, reveals a new survey conducted by Booking.com personally.

Popular online travel agency Booking.com surveyed 24,179 respondents across 32 countries, which revealed travelers’ strong interest in virtually exploring destinations as they decide on their itinerary. Out of the lot, people most likely to try out travel experiences in the metaverse were Gen Z (45%) and Millennials (43%).

Nearly half, or 43% of the respondents, confirmed their will to use virtual reality to inspire their choices. Among this group, around 4574 participants believe in traveling to new places only after experiencing it virtually.

Moreover, over 35% of the respondents are open to spending multiple days in the Metaverse to get the hang of the surroundings offered across popular destinations. According to Booking.com, supporting technologies such as haptic feedback will help improve this experience by allowing users to experience sandy beaches and tropical sun without stepping outside.

Most popular type of vacation. Source: Booking.com

However, 60% of the respondents believe that the experiences the Metaverse and virtual technologies offer don’t come close to in-person experiences. Some of the most popular destinations for 2023 include São Paulo (Brazil), Pondicherry (India), Hobart (Australia) and Bolzano (Italy).

Related: Metaverse ‘explosion’ will be driven by B2B, not retail consumers: KPMG partner

Tech giant Microsoft’s plan to step into the metaverse business hit a massive roadblock after the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sought to block the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

The acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $69 billion would have played “a key role in the development of metaverse platforms,” according to Microsoft CEO and chairman Satya Nadella. However, the FTC pointed out Microsoft’s anti-competitive practices, wherein the company limited the distribution of console games after acquiring rival gaming companies.

Tourists flock to El Salvador despite Bitcoin bear market

El Salvador, the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, has seen explosive growth in tourism numbers in the first half of 2022.

Tourism in El Salvador has soared in the first half of 2022. Up 82.8% just this year, there were 1.1 million visitors to El Salvador this year, according to government figures. That’s despite the price of Bitcoin (BTC) sinking almost 50% since Jan. 1. 

Data from the World Travel Organization reinforces the claims. The tiny Central American country is internationally recognized as “one of the countries with the best rate of tourism recovery in the region as of January 2022.”

The report by the WTO states that some “Central American destinations have the best results compared to 2019,” including El Salvador at +81% compared with 2019, or pre-pandemic levels.

Contrary to reports from the Wall Street Journal that El Salvador’s bet on Bitcoin to attract tourists “hasn’t worked,” visits for the first half of this year almost outpace total visits in 2019: 1.1 million people visited the country in six months, compared to last year’s total of 1.2 million.

In a radio interview, the general director of Strategic Projects of the Ministry of Tourism of El Salvador, Alex Bonilla, explained that over the summer holiday period, the country can expect “57,500 international visitors, which will generate $60 million in foreign exchange during this vacation.” It is expected that the 1.2 million figure mark will be beaten soon. 

Since El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as legal tender, thousands of Bitcoiners have made the trip. Big-name Bitcoiners such as Jeff Booth, entrepreneur and author of Price of Tomorrow, Obi Nwosu, CEO of Fedimint, the decentralized community custody solution, and Samson Mow, CEO of Jan3, have all taken pilgrimages to El Salvador.

As Tone Vays, a Bitcoin analyst, said of his visit to El Salvador, “99.9% of the world had no clue where this country was; maybe 98% didn’t know this country ever existed–they’re [El Salvador] certainly on the map now.” Bitcoin advocates are keen to bring home exuberant tales of their trip to the land of volcanoes. At the same time, Bitcoin-centric companies are motivated to make El Salvador’s Bitcoin play a success.

Related: Morgan Stanley encourages investors to buy battered El Salvador eurobonds

Max Keiser and Stacey Herbert, Bitcoin OGs, chose to take up residency in El Salvador and now base their podcasting and broadcasting operations on El Salvador. As part of the Bitcoin Bill, residency in El Salvador could effectively be bought for 3 BTC, or $66,000 at the time of writing, as part of an investment into the country.  Escape to El Salvador, a professional community that aids people in moving to El Salvador told Cointelegraph that the 3 BTC for residency strategy merged into the ‘Volcano Bonds offering’. They told Cointelegraph:

“It doesn’t automatically mean you are a resident, you still have to apply, but you can use the holdings as your justification for the applying, like a student can use a letter of acceptance from a university for a ‘student visa’. There’s still a process.”

El Salvador, known as “El Hodlador” in some circles, also hosted a bevy of central bankers in May this year. The influential group of visitors “did not discuss Bitcoin,” according to the Central Bank of Paraguay, whose delegate was a tourist in El Salvador. However, there were numerous photos of the 44 central bankers and economists using the Bitcoin Beach Wallet in El Zonte, the birthplace of BTC adoption in the country.

The capital, San Salvador, hosts the Adopting Bitcoin conference, a Lightning Summit in November this year. Over 80 Bitcoin and Lightning Network experts will take to the stage during the conference, with representatives from Blockstream, Spiral and the El Salvador government.

Packed your Bitcoin? A BTC holiday in Costa Rica goes fiat free

A Bitcoiner in Costa Rica had a “win-win” experience when he went on holiday and only spent Satoshis (Bitcoin) while traveling along the pacific coast.

Passport, sunglasses, beach towel and Bitcoin (BTC)? A BTC enthusiast on vacation demonstrated that the world’s largest cryptocurrency could soon become a holiday essential. Eugenio, a Costa Rican Bitcoin maximalist, paid his way on holiday with just Bitcoin in his wallet during a long weekend on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast.

A hotspot for Bitcoin adoption and real-life whale spotting, the towns of Uvita, Dominical and Ojochal are home to Bitcoin Jungle, a Bitcoin-beach-inspired project, as well as a budding community of Bitcoin-friendly merchants. Eugenio documented his entire Bitcoin holiday to the destination on Twitter. He told Cointelegraph, “The only fiat I had to use was filling the tank [of the car] before departing.”

Eugenio explained that he wanted to support the adoption and to show that anyone can do the same, in a convenient and fun way, “using Lightning Network seamlessly with no payment processors or banks involved:”

“I wanted to be able to pay for my little sister’s gelato while I was at the beach, for example.”

Eugenio paid for more than his sister’s ice cream: he paid for pizzas, coffees, steaks and even a trip to the market for kombucha with Bitcoin.

Eugenio at the market. Source: Eugenio

Reportedly, merchants asked, “would you like to pay with Lightning or on-chain?” On-chain transactions take on average 10 minutes to confirm, are slow, and sometimes costly. Lightning transactions are near-instant, near-free and are a “win-win for me and for the merchants,” Eugenio explained:

“It is extremely convenient, Bitcoin is money. You can use it to spend and can use it to save, you can do both in an easy way without the fees and hurdles embedded in the legacy system, plus you can always buy back the sats with the fiat you were going to use in the first place.”

The Lightning Network is quietly catching on, and examples of its adoption slowly spread like roots reaching across the globe. From British families to Senegalese surfers, the appetite for transactions over Lightning means more and more Bitcoin is used on the layer-2 platforms.

Related: Andorra green lights Bitcoin and blockchain with Digital Assets Act

Eugenio shares some advice for those reluctant to use the LN or event to visit Costa Rica. A proud Tico (Costa Rican local), he suggests, “Don’t overthink it. The place is stunning, safe, full of nature and adventure. Use the Bitcoin Jungle Business map for guidance and a Lightning Wallet.”

Costa Rica’s pacific coast showing places accepting Bitcoin. Source: Bitcoinjungle

The place is adopting Bitcoin “organically,” and some of the locals have taken pride in accepting Bitcoin, Eugenio told Cointelegraph.

As per the above map, there are a growing number of merchants across Costa Rica accepting Bitcoin “with a smile.” With the summer holidays in full swing, Bitcoin wallets might be on packing lists around the world, alongside passports, sunglasses and sunblock.

Reporting ‘limited progress,’ FATF urges countries to introduce legislation for travel rule

“Countries that have not introduced Travel Rule legislation should do so as soon as possible, and FATF jurisdictions should lead by example,” said the organization.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) reported that 11 out of 98 responding jurisdictions have started enforcing its standards on Combating the Financing of Terrorism, or CFT, and Anti-Money Laundering, or AML.

In an update released Thursday on the “Implementation of the FATF Standards on Virtual Assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers,” the FATF reported the “vast majority” of jurisdictions assessed by the organization’s Global Network since June 2021 “still require major or moderate improvement” in AML/CFT compliance in accordance with the Travel Rule. According to the FATF, countries moving towards implementing these requirements made “limited progress” over the last year, with 29 out of 98 responding jurisdictions reporting passing legislation related to the Travel Rule, and 11 starting enforcement.

“While around a quarter of responding jurisdictions are now in the process of passing the relevant legislation, around one-third (36 out of 98) have not yet started introducing the Travel Rule,” said the FATF. “This gap leaves VAs and VASPs vulnerable to misuse, and demonstrates the urgent need for jurisdictions to accelerate implementation and enforcement.”

The organization added that companies in the private sector had made progress in introducing solutions to support compliance with the travel rule and “taking early steps to ensure interoperability with other solutions.” However, the FATF hinted at the necessity of implementing these solutions quickly, given the “significant threat of ransomware actors misusing VAs to facilitate payments” and funneling illicit funds through Virtual Asset Service Providers, also known as VASPs.

“Countries that have not introduced Travel Rule legislation should do so as soon as possible, and FATF jurisdictions should lead by example by promoting implementation, and by sharing experiences and good practices […] Rapid implementation by jurisdictions will incentivize progress further.”

Related: President of Panama shoots down crypto bill citing FATF guidelines

Among other developments since 2021 included a rise in the growth of decentralized finance, or DeFi, and nonfungible projects, which the FATF labeled as a “challenging area for implementation” of the Travel Rule. The organization cited a Chainalysis report released in February that “suggests that threats from criminal misuse continue” with illicit transactions in DeFi, and reached similar conclusions for NFTs potentially being used for “money laundering and wash trading.”

Under FATF guidelines, VASPs operating within certain jurisdictions need to be licensed or registered. The organization reported in an April update that roughly half of the assessed jurisdictions in 120 countries had “adequate laws and regulatory structures in place” to assess risks and verify beneficial owners of companies, urging them to prioritize identifying and reporting information on cryptocurrency transactions.