FATF Crypto Rules: What They Mean for Your Wallet and Trading
When you trade crypto, send coins, or use an exchange, you’re likely following rules set by the FATF, the Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental body that creates global standards to stop money laundering and terrorist financing. Also known as the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering, it doesn’t enforce laws itself—but its recommendations become law in over 200 countries. If a country ignores FATF, its banks get cut off from the global financial system. That’s why even places like Nigeria, Brazil, and Thailand changed their crypto rules overnight.
FATF’s main demand? Crypto exchanges and wallet providers must collect and share customer data—names, IDs, addresses—just like banks do. This is called the Travel Rule, a FATF requirement that forces platforms to pass user info along with transactions over $1,000. It sounds simple, but it breaks how most DeFi apps work. If you use a non-KYC exchange like Helix Markets or DuckSwap, you’re technically breaking FATF rules. That’s why exchanges like WEEX and Upbit are regulated—they built compliance into their design. And it’s why China banned all exchanges: they couldn’t track users under the Travel Rule.
FATF doesn’t just target exchanges. It also flags high-risk tokens. If a coin has no team, no roadmap, and no trading volume—like SUNI, FDT, or PLEXUS—it gets labeled as a potential money laundering tool. That’s why CoinMarketCap stopped listing many of these tokens. Countries like Thailand and Brazil now use FATF guidelines to jail traders who ignore reporting rules. Even airdrops like KOM or RACA are under scrutiny if they don’t verify who’s claiming them.
So when you see a crypto ban in China, a $10,000 cap in Brazil, or a tax crackdown in India, it’s not random. It’s FATF. The rules force governments to choose: comply and get global banking access, or risk isolation. That’s why even countries with no crypto laws still follow FATF—they can’t afford to lose their Visa and Mastercard connections. What you hold in your wallet today is shaped by decisions made in Paris, not Silicon Valley.
Below, you’ll find real cases showing how FATF’s rules play out on the ground—from exchanges that shut down to airdrops that vanished overnight. These aren’t theoretical warnings. They’re the consequences of ignoring the global standard.
