Google is Banning Several Crypto Wallet Apps In the US and EU

Google Play updated sweeping new policy changes, banning wallet apps unless they meet local regulatory compliance. The Roman Storm case might be very relevant to this crackdown.

Impacted regions include the US, EU, UK, Canada, Switzerland, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Philippines, Indonesia, South Africa, Bahrain, the UAE, and Israel. In many of these regions, non-custodial wallets cannot reach compliance.

Google’s New Wallet Policies

Crypto wallets are very serious business, and community members can have very strong opinions about them.

Self-custody is a critical way to protect yourself from scams, after all. When Google announced today that it was changing its policies on mobile wallet apps, this naturally caused a lot of fear-mongering and anxious reactions:

Simply put, these maximalist claims seem extremely unlikely.

However, there is a definite change, and users need to know how they could be affected. Google had friendly policies towards crypto wallets a year ago, but the firm has also made questionable choices regarding the industry. A clear analysis can help dispel any FUD.

Explaining the Changes

Essentially, these new rules will delist any exchange or wallet that doesn’t meet local regulatory guidelines. Thirteen countries, Hong Kong, and the entire European Union are subject to these restrictions.

Google even warned that other regions are also likely to face wallet delistings as the situation develops.

What are local regulatory guidelines? In practically every jurisdiction, Google will demand that crypto wallets register as money transmitters, digital asset service providers, or other analogous legal designations.

Apps operating exclusively in France and Germany will have extra time to meet MiCA compliance, but these restrictions will take place immediately elsewhere.

There’s just one problem, however. Non-custodial wallets, a significant chunk of the market, cannot meet Google’s compliance standards.

Popular wallets like Binance and Metamask might therefore get swept up in the crackdown, alongside many smaller projects.

US Senators have already acknowledged that FinCEN guidelines are unfair to these wallets, but the law hasn’t changed.

If a project can’t afford these security measures, it’ll be forced off Google Play.

Did Tornado Cash Cause This?

As researchers pointed out, the law is not actually demanding these changes. Google’s new wallet policy is in accordance with FATF guidelines, but these are explicitly non-binding.

Apparently, the firm is complying with these recommendations in advance.

A possible culprit is the recent verdict in the Tornado Cash case. Although Roman Storm avoided the most serious charges, his partial conviction worried privacy experts.

If software can be a crime, Google doesn’t want to be found culpable for illegal wallet activity.

In short, things could be a lot worse, but this isn’t good. It’s unclear if Google will actually delete customer wallets, and there are other mechanisms to access this software.

If you live in an impacted region, non-Google mobile devices or desktop computers might be the only way to access these tools.

Still, this is a very worrying signal. Despite its decentralized origins, corporations have a huge influence over today’s crypto industry. Today is an important reminder of that fact.

The post Google is Banning Several Crypto Wallet Apps In the US and EU appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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