What is the Travel Rule?

Travel Rule is another name for the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU) on information accompanying transfers of funds and certain cryptocurrencies, and is part of a larger package of EU legislation that aims to regulate the cryptocurrency market.

The aim of this particular regulation is to make transactions more transparent and make it more difficult for funds to be used for illegal purposes. As a licensed exchange, we are required to implement such regulations to ensure our compliance with current legislation. Furthermore, above all, we are committed to ensuring that our users feel safe and confident that they are operating in a licensed trading environment.

Travel Rule is also known as Transfer of Funds Regulation or TFR for short.

What will the Travel Rule look like in practice?

Implementing the Travel Rule in practice means that we need to collect and share certain data about the senders and recipients of each crypto asset transfer, including name, physical address or wallet information.

We are working hard to ensure that the changes we need to implement have a minimal impact on our users. Our team works intensively to ensure that the entire Travel Rule implementation process is unnoticeable to you. In most cases, the data mentioned will be automatically shared with those involved in the processing of the transfer. However, in accordance with the new rules, in some situations it may be necessary to collect additional information in order to finalise the transfer.

You may be wondering what would have happened if we had not implemented the Travel Rule? The truth is that most of the market participants will also have to comply. Non-compliance can result in difficulties in processing transactions between different institutions and, in some cases, even rejection. By implementing the rules, we are therefore acting proactively to ensure your comfort and convenience when using the exchange.

For more information on the Travel Rule, please click here: https://zondacrypto.com/en/academy/travel-rule 

 

What exactly will change with the Travel Rule?

Deposits

Using the web application

Please note: The changes described here will take place on an ongoing basis, however, the use of new features will be optional until 29.12.2024. After this date - it will be mandatory.

When ordering a withdrawal from another platform (VASP) to ours, you will be asked to provide three new details:

• the details of the beneficiary of the transaction (your details),

• the name of the target VASP (zondacrypto),

• if the beneficiary of the transaction is a company, the company identification number - LEIX, RAID, TXID or MISC.

If you request a withdrawal through a VASP that does not provide the information required by the Travel Rule, we will ask you to complete the aforementioned data through the corresponding form.

Via API

Please note: The changes described here will take place on an ongoing basis, however, the use of new features will be optional until 29.12.2024. After this date - it will be mandatory.

For a correct deposit order, we will need three new types of data:

• transaction beneficiary data,

• the VASP DID number of the target VASP,

• the company identification number - LEIX, RAID, TXID or MISC (in case the beneficiary of the transaction is a company).

This means that every request sent in connection with a deposit order must contain the above information.

 

Withdrawals

Via web application

Please note: The changes described here will take place on an ongoing basis, however, the use of new features will be optional until 29.12.2024. After this date - it will be mandatory.

For a correct withdrawal order, we will need three new types of data:

• transaction beneficiary data,

• the name of the target VASP,

• the company identification number - LEIX, RAID, TXID or MISC (in case the beneficiary of the transaction is a company).

You will be able to provide the aforementioned data when sending the withdrawal request.

Using the API

Please note: The changes described here will take place on an ongoing basis, however, the use of new features will be optional until 29.12.2024. After this date - it will be mandatory.

For a correct deposit order, we will need three new types of data:

• transaction beneficiary data,

• the VASP number of the target VASP,

• the company identification number - LEIX, RAID, TXID or MISC (in case the beneficiary is a company).

This means that every request sent in connection with a deposit order must contain the above information.

 

Glossary of terms used in the text

Travel Rule - a set of guidelines, stemming from FATF Recommendation 16 aimed at preventing money laundering and terrorist financing. It applies to financial institutions involved in the transfer of virtual assets and cryptocurrency companies, known as VASPs. It requires VASPs to obtain and disclose accurate information regarding the sender and recipient of a virtual asset transfer to VASP counterparties or financial institutions, both during and prior to the transaction.

VASPs (Virtual Asset Service Providers) -Virtual asset service providers are entities that conduct exchanges between different forms of virtual assets or between virtual assets and fiat currencies. These include, for example, cryptocurrency exchanges, online and offline wallets.

VASP DID - VASP identification number (example: did:ethr:0xf8d66fa330bb9a3865c7190b4521692043b3d609).

LEIX - a unique global identifier for legal entities involved in financial transactions, also known as an LEI code or LEI number. Its purpose is to help identify legal entities in a globally accessible database.

RAID - the identifier of a legal entity assigned by the registration authority having jurisdiction over its registered office.

TXID - the tax identification number of a legal entity assigned by the tax authority competent for its place of establishment.

MISC - another identification number if LEIX, RAID or TXID is not available or has not been assigned.

Originator - the party authorising the transfer of its virtual assets, or placing an order for such a transfer.

Beneficiary - the recipient of a given transfer of virtual assets.