The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an independent inter-governmental body that develops and promotes policies to protect the global financial system against threats such as money laundering and terrorist financing, wrapped up its Plenary Week Friday in Orlando, Florida.

At the closing of the event, the FATF announced that it had adopted and issued "an Interpretive Note to Recommendation 15 on New Technologies," which clarifies the amendments to the international standards relating to crypto assets and describes how countries must comply with relevant recommendations.

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven T. Mnuchin delivered the closing speech to the plenary. He said:

The Interpretive Note adopted this week includes virtual asset standards that are binding to all countries … Under these new measures, virtual asset service providers will be required to implement the same AML/CFT requirements as traditional financial institutions.

"The obligations require countries to assess and mitigate their risks associated with virtual asset activities and service providers," and "implement sanctions and other enforcement measures when service providers fail to comply with their AML/CFT obligations," the FATF explained. They are also required to "license or register service providers and subject them to supervision or monitoring by competent national authorities," and "will not be permitted to rely on a self-regulatory body for supervision or monitoring."