What is the Travel Rule?
The travel rule was originally established by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international organization that establishes global standards for anti-money laundering and terrorist financing. The travel rule was initially only applied in relation to transfers of funds, and requires that certain information about the sender and receiver accompanies a transfer of funds, with the purpose of preventing money laundering and terrorism financing.
In order to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing through transfers of crypto-assets, the travel rule has now been extended to also encompass crypto-assets. This applies as binding regulation on EU level through the enactment of the new transfer of funds regulation (Regulation 2023/1113).
Why is the Travel Rule important?
The travel rule plays a key role in ensuring that crypto transactions are not used for illegal purposes. It requires service providers like Safello to collect, verify and share transaction-related information to comply with legal requirements.
By adhering to these rules, Safello is committed to further contribute to a secure and transparent financial ecosystem while fostering trust in crypto-assets as a legitimate and regulated market.
How does the Travel Rule affect you as a customer?
Starting from December 30, 2024, Safello will implement the travel rule, meaning that we are required to collect and share certain information about the recipients and senders in crypto-asset transfers to or from our platform.
This applies to transfers between Safello's platform and other exchanges as well as self-hosted wallets.
What does this mean for you?
Collection of information: To comply with the requirements, we need to collect details such as the sender’s and recipient’s respective name, address, personal ID number or organization number, and certain additional required information (e.g. purpose of the transaction).
Transparency and security: The collected information will only be shared with relevant crypto-asset service providers involved in the transaction. All data will be handled securely in accordance with applicable data protection regulations.
Obligatory: Until the required information has been collected and shared, the transfer may not be completed.
Transfers to exchanges outside the TRUST network are not supported: Initially, Safello does not have the possibility to handle transfers to or from crypto-asset service providers outside the TRUST network. A list of covered crypto-asset service providers is available here. If a crypto-asset service provider doesn’t appear on that list, transfers to or from such provider will not be supported. Please note that this restriction does not apply to self-hosted wallets, such as Ledger, MetaMask, and Blockchain.com.
Our aim is that your overall experience with Safello will remain unchanged to the furthest extent possible. However, since the required information has to be collected and shared before a transaction may be completed, any lack of information will result in processing delays. We therefore kindly request your cooperation to ensure a smooth process. Also, as stated above, at this point, transfers to or from crypto-asset service providers outside of TRUST will not be supported.
What is the TRUST network?
TRUST is a well-established membership network in both the US and Europe, developed in collaboration with several leading cryptocurrency exchanges such as Coinbase, Kraken, Gemini, BitGo, and Fidelity Digital. The platform offers a decentralized solution where each crypto service provider must verify address ownership and share information peer-to-peer, ensuring that all necessary information can be transferred securely while protecting customer data.
How does Safello protect your information?
Safello is committed to safeguarding your privacy and security. All information is processed in compliance with GDPR. We use encrypted systems to protect your data and share information only when legally required.
Have questions?
If you have any further questions about the travel rule or how it may affect your transaction, please do not hesitate to contact our customer support team at support@safello.com.