What happened
The value of cryptocurrencies fell on Friday morning after the European Union moved forward with some potentially restrictive regulations. Crypto fell across the board, but the big names were significantly impacted.
![Dogecoin [DOGE] to rise beyond 40%? Whale activity may spur rally](https://crypto.newswireservice.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/doge-wale-1000x600-120x86.jpg)
Bitcoin ( BTC 0.86% ) fell as much as 4.2% in the last 24 hours as of 12:30 p.m. ET, Ethereum ( ETH 1.16% ) fell as much as 3.4%, and Dogecoin ( DOGE 1.77% ) dropped 5.1%. Values did recover slightly and were trading about flat for the day.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
EU lawmakers voted in favor of a bill that would end anonymous cryptocurrency transactions through what’s called a non-custodial wallet. These wallets are used by cryptocurrency and NFT owners to send transactions on the blockchain and typically aren’t tied directly to a personal owner. That could change with know-your-customer (KYC) requirements.
The move undercuts some of the value many see in cryptocurrency living outside of the traditional financial system. There aren’t gatekeepers today and transactions can happen with anyone in the world. The EU is saying it doesn’t like that anonymity.
This could open a number of unintended consequences for cryptocurrencies, including more centralization among cryptocurrency exchanges and marketplaces. It’s not clear if that would hurt adoption or innovation, but it’s clearly not what the crypto market was looking for from lawmakers.
Now what
KYC regulations aren’t law yet, so they may still change, but this is certainly an incremental negative for cryptocurrencies. It was generally thought that the U.S. and EU were moving toward more friendly regulations for cryptocurrencies, but this would undercut some of the ability for the industry to innovate and develop.
One detail that’s getting a lot of attention is the fact that transactions over 1,000 euros in value would need to be reported to authorities, even if they’re coming from someone who doesn’t live in the EU. That’s the…
![Dogecoin [DOGE] to rise beyond 40%? Whale activity may spur rally](https://crypto.newswireservice.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/doge-wale-1000x600-350x250.jpg)
