#欧盟隐私币禁令 The EU is serious this time! Are privacy coins sentenced to death?

From July 1, 2027, the EU will completely ban privacy coins like Monero, Zcash, Dash, and even mixers, the so-called 'money laundering machines' will be dealt with in one sweep! This is no joke — the EU Parliament has just passed the Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR), which directly sentences anonymous transactions to 'life imprisonment'.

Think about it, the ring signature technology of Monero, the zero-knowledge proof of Zcash, these 'black technologies' that once thrilled hackers and money launderers have now become time bombs on the road to compliance. Even more astonishing, while self-custody wallets are not directly banned, as long as the transfer exceeds 1,000 euros, exchanges will have to dig through your identification information like checking a household registration: name, address, source of funds, none of it can escape!

The market reaction is even more surreal: as soon as the news broke, the prices of privacy coins initially plummeted, but the next day, Monero actually rose by 5%! This operation made the retail investors exclaim, 'The stricter the regulation, the stronger the faith.' However, experts warn that this is just the calm before the storm — once the deadline in 2027 arrives, these coins will either have to change their faces or completely fade away.

2. Self-custody wallets: seemingly free, but constantly monitored

Do self-custody wallet users think they can escape? Naive! The new regulations require exchanges to perform 'Customer Due Diligence' (CDD) on every transfer from a self-custody wallet. For example: if you transfer 1 Bitcoin (about 300,000 yuan) from your cold wallet to an exchange, the exchange will immediately activate 'human search' mode — requiring you to upload your ID, bank statement, and even asking you to shoot a video to prove you are the one operating.

Even more ruthless, the EU has also established a new regulatory agency, AMLA, specifically monitoring those users with over 20,000 or annual trading volumes exceeding 50 million euros. In the future, every transaction you make will be penetrated by on-chain analysis tools (like Chainalysis) like an X-ray, and the flow of funds will be more transparent than the color of your underwear.

3. Compliance costs soar, will small exchanges be doomed?

Medium and small exchanges are probably regretting it deeply now — to comply with the new regulations, they will have to spend a lot of money to purchase chain analysis tools and build compliance teams. According to estimates by the European Banking Authority (EBA), initial compliance costs could cause 30% of small platforms to shut down completely.

And large platforms are not doing well either. For example, OKX