FATF guidance on virtual assets: NFTs win, DeFi loses, rest remains unchanged

Cointelegraph

Published Dec 11, 2021 05:11AM ET

Updated Dec 12, 2021 07:00AM ET

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) released its long-awaited guidance on virtual assets, laying out standards that have the potential to reshape the crypto industry in the United States and around the world. The guidance addresses one of the most important challenges for the crypto industry: To convince regulators, legislators and the public that it does not facilitate money laundering.

The guidance is particularly concerned with the parts of the crypto industry that have recently brought about significant regulatory uncertainty including decentralized finance (DeFi), stablecoins and nonfungible tokens (NFTs). The guidance largely follows the emerging approach of U.S. regulators toward DeFi and stablecoins. In a positive note for the industry, the FATF is seemingly less aggressive toward NFTs and arguably calls for a presumption that NFTs are not virtual assets. The guidance, however, opens the door for members to regulate NFTs if they are used for “investment purposes.” We expect this guidance to add fuel to the NFT rally that has been underway for the majority of 2021.

Jorge Pesok serves as general counsel and chief compliance officer for Tacen Inc., a leading software development company that builds open-source, blockchain-based software. Before joining Tacen, Jorge developed extensive legal experience advising technology companies, cryptocurrency exchanges and financial institutions before the SEC, CFTC, and DOJ.
John Bugnacki serves as policy lead and law clerk for Tacen Inc. John is an expert on governance, security and development. His research and work have focused on the vital intersection between history, political science, economics and other fields in producing effective analysis, dialogue and engagement.

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