AML (Anti-Money Laundering)
Laws and procedures that aim to stop criminals from disguising illegal funds as legitimate money.
AML stands for anti-money laundering: the laws, rules and internal controls meant to stop criminal money from entering the financial system. Crypto exchanges and many other crypto businesses are covered by AML laws in most major jurisdictions.
In practice, AML includes customer checks (KYC), monitoring transactions for unusual patterns, screening addresses against sanctions lists and reporting suspicious activity to authorities. Blockchain analytics tools help services see whether incoming coins are linked to hacks, scams or sanctioned entities.
AML rules explain several things users notice during swaps: limits before extra checks start, deposits that are held for review, and requests for information about where funds came from. In the EU, the AML Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 applies from 10 July 2027 and brings stricter, uniform rules, including a ban on crypto providers keeping accounts that use anonymity-enhancing coins.
