Coinbase Announced International Expansion of Travel Rule Universal Solution Technology

Coinbase has announced the expansion of Travel Rule Universal Solution Technology (TRUST), a consortium of major crypto companies designed to comply with FATF’s Travel Rule.

TRUST Expansion

According to the official blog post, TRUST went live in Canada and Singapore. It is currently eyeing other global jurisdictions, including Europe. The entity is working on providing its compliance services to virtual asset service providers (VASPs) across the world, including its security safeguards, said Coinbase.

TRUST has added several global platforms to its membership and the number has now grown to 36. Apart from the original – Coinbase, BitGo, Gemini, Kraken, and Fidelity, the coalition has added Amber Group, Anchorage, Balance, Binance US, bitFlyer, Bittrex, BlockFi, BlocPal, Cake DeFi, Circle, Coinhako, Coinsmart, Coinsquare, Crypto.com, Custodia, Netcoins, Nexo, Paxos, Robinhood, sFOX, Shakepay, among others.

The post further read,

“The rapid expansion of TRUST in the United States and internationally marks a significant milestone in the journey to become the industry-standard solution for Travel Rule compliance. And this is only the beginning. We anticipate that, over the coming year, TRUST will welcome many new members around the world.”

The latest development comes on the heels of the finance ministers and central bank governors from the G-7 call for the rapid implementation of FATF’s “travel rule” with stronger disclosure and reporting requirements. In the European Union, this rule is currently under parliamentary debate.

Origin of TRUST

The global anti-money laundering (AML) watchdog, Financial Action Task Force (FATF), updated its guidance in mid-2019 to explicitly state that all VASPs, that includes – exchanges, trading desks, and custodians – collect information on personal information of both the sender and the recipient for transactions of $1,000 and above.

The Travel Rule challenged many platforms that may not be capable to bring into compliance with the guidelines. As a result, the crypto community had raised concerns citing the wide scope of the proposed law.

With its reach expanding internationally, several major crypto companies based in the United States released a solution in the form of Travel Rule Universal Solution Technology (TRUST). The solution is designed to comply with the requirement while protecting the security and privacy of our customers.