Qatar is criticized for not taking enough action against crypto companies

The global watchdog fighting money laundering and terrorist financing has slammed the Qatar Central Bank (QCB) for doing little to enforce its own rules banning virtual asset service providers.

In a report published on May 31, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Thrown light on that Qatar needs to step up its capabilities to effectively combat evolving forms of criminal activity, including sanctioning virtual asset service providers.

“There is a need to improve understanding of more complex forms of money laundering and terrorist financing,” it was noted.

In case you missed it, find out more about the effectiveness of Qatar’s measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing in the FATF-MENAFATF mutual assessment report ➡️https://t.co/CwEJTZnb0M#Money laundering #terrorist funding #AML #cft #follow the money pic.twitter.com/IFiaCRxWju

— FATF (@FATFNews) June 1, 2023

In December 2019 itself, the Qatar Financial Center Regulatory Authority (QFCRA) announced that virtual asset services cannot be conducted in or from the Qatar Financial Center (QFC).

The regulatory authority warned at the time that in accordance with the rights and obligations of the QFCRA, fines would be imposed on any firm that provides or facilitates the provision or exchange of crypto assets.

According to a recent FATF report, while Qatar has made “positive and sustained progress” in gathering beneficial ownership information for its nearly complete Unified Register – a consolidation of its citizens’ data – there is more work to be done:

“There are still not enough controls in place to ensure that all information collected remains accurate and up to date.”

Qatari authorities were urged to improve their investigative efforts towards money laundering, after it was alleged that it did not fully utilize its “sophisticated analytical capabilities” to identify money laundering cases. going.

Connected: UK Financial Watchdog to Crypto Industry: ‘Let’s Work Together’

While Qatar has banned virtual asset service providers, it has been learned that it is actively exploring potential use cases for implementing a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

It was previously reported in June 2022 that the Qatar Central Bank (QCB) is in the “foundation phase” of issuing a CBDC.

Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Thani, governor of the QCB, revealed at the time that the central bank was “evaluating the pros and cons” of a CBDC and working on the right technology and platform.

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