Gibraltar being a tax haven, nobody ever had a problem. Now Gibraltar announced its plan to become a Crypto hub,Sanctions are back on Menu!

It is a well known fact that Gibraltar has more companies than actual people living in the territory. It's a tax haven for the drug lords to launder their dirty money. But there was no fear of sanctions even after everybody knowing that it's a tax haven nation.

Nobody ever feared that Gibraltar could face sanctions for being a tax haven,only untill Gibraltar announced it's plans to become a Cryptocurrency hub https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/dec/27/blockchain-rock-gibraltar-moves-to-become-worlds-first-cryptocurrency-hub

The plan

Gibraltar’s mid-harbour marina, the peninsula’s regulators are reviewing a proposal that would prompt blockchain firm Valereum to buy the exchange in the new year – meaning the British overseas territory could soon host the world’s first integrated bourse, where conventional bonds can be traded alongside major cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and dogecoin.

The officials clarified that, they set the rules after proper research so that nobody can really escape the rules to carry out illegal activities.

Also,Gibraltar's minister for digital, financial services and public utilities says that

it is easy to run anti money laundering checks on Crypto is not vastly different from running it on fiat currency.And indeed in some cases, because you can trace back through the Blockchian and see exactly where that money has come from ,it can actually be substantially easier than trying to find where a block of funds in a bank has come from

Fear of Sanctions :

If anti-money laundering or sanctions rules are broken or evaded, “there’s lots of things they could do, and lead internationally through the FATF, to make things hard on Gibraltar. You’ll see that the FATF can impose all kinds of measures, which will require its members to put limits on business with that country,” he adds.

Now, Experts have warned that Gibraltar could face sanctions by countries such as the US if it's regulators end up giving legal approval to Crypto firms that even inadvertently – give a free pass to money launderers, black market criminals or kleptocrats who prefer the anonymity of Crypto assets.

Basically, it is being feared that Gibraltar could face the heat for being a Crypto friendly nation just like Malta was Grey listed by FATF for lacking basic financial safeguards.But Gibraltar's authorities clarified that the process to obtain a license is not easy but a rigorous process,in 3 years, application of 14 firms have been approved.