Central Bank of the Netherlands withdrew requirements for the “white list” of cryptocurrency addresses

At the beginning of the year, the Central Bank of the Netherlands issued requirements according to which users of cryptocurrency exchanges must verify addresses for withdrawing digital assets. The demands have now been withdrawn.

According to the issued rules, cryptocurrency exchanges could withdraw user funds only to the “white list” of addresses. To verify the address, the citizen of the country had to provide a photo to “prove” that it was his wallet. Cryptocurrency exchanges have had to significantly tighten rules on asset stripping.

Among others, the requirements were followed by the Bitstamp platform and the local exchange Bitonic. At the same time, the Bitonic management did not agree with them. The company’s lawyers have filed a lawsuit demanding the abolition of the new rules. In their lawsuit, they stressed that “verification of each address for each transaction has no practical sense, and is also a serious violation of our clients’ right to privacy.”

In April, a judge in the District Court of Rotterdam agreed with the arguments of Bitonic’s lawyers and gave the Dutch Central Bank six weeks to review the rules. Now the regulator decided that the original rules were “not fair enough” and canceled the requirements for wallet verification. However, the regulator continues to require “adequate verification” that the withdrawing person is the recipient. For this, the Central Bank of the country has published an official guide, according to which exchanges can choose a verification method.

Recall that additional verification measures for users of cryptocurrency exchanges in the Netherlands were introduced last fall.