FATF Travel Rule

FATF Recommendation 16 — the “Travel Rule” for wire transfers and virtual assets

In force; virtual-asset extension adopted 2019, national implementation ongoing worldwide

The FATF Travel Rule (Recommendation 16) requires financial institutions — and, since 2019, virtual-asset service providers (VASPs) — to transmit originator and beneficiary information alongside transfers. It is the backbone of cross-border AML transparency, and its extension to crypto transfers is one of the most consequential compliance obligations for exchanges, custodians and payment firms handling digital assets.

Implementation is national: each jurisdiction transposes the rule with its own thresholds, data fields and timelines, which makes tracking regulator-by-regulator adoption the hard part. Emerging markets are actively legislating — exactly the coverage most trackers miss.

This page aggregates travel-rule-related rules, guidance and consultations from the regulators RegAlert monitors, updated same-day.

Source:

FATF Recommendation 16 (updated for virtual assets, June 2019)

Applies to:

Banks, money transmitters, and VASPs (exchanges, custodians)

Typical threshold:

USD/EUR 1,000 for virtual-asset transfers (varies by jurisdiction)

Status:

National implementations rolling out worldwide