The European Union and eight other countries have signed a protocol to intensify international cooperation against money laundering, terrorist financing and other financial crimes involving digital assets. The document refers to the Council of Europe’s Warsaw Convention, which covers international collaboration against money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
A new Council of Europe treaty to strengthen criminal-asset recovery is open for signature.
Eight member states and the EU have signed. It modernises asset-recovery frameworks to tackle increasingly sophisticated, cross-border crime.
Read more: https://t.co/MeNJzmcTe1 https://t.co/NEvxsg55it
— Council of Europe (@coe) October 15, 2026
Why Digital Assets Create Issues For International Cases
The framework refers to challenges that cryptocurrencies and digital assets pose in cross-border cases, where investigation and law enforcement authorities may have to identify the assets, establish jurisdiction, get the necessary authorizations and work together with authorities in other states to take measures to freeze and confiscate proceeds of crime.
It becomes especially relevant in cases where there is a connection with persons in different states, for example, if the accused are in one state, the victims in another, and the proceeds of crime are in a digital wallet controlled through a third-party service.
Signatories to the protocol commit to modernize their legislation to reflect the challenges of financial crime in the digital age. In practice, the document may affect not only crypto exchanges but also the investigation of digital wallet transfers and other digital assets suspected of being involved in money laundering or terrorism financing.
How Relevant Are Signatories’ Commitments?
While the signatories to the agreement commit to advancing international cooperation against financial crimes involving digital assets, this does not automatically apply to all cases. For many states, the wording of local legislation and the procedure for its adoption may be more important than the ambitions expressed in the new protocol.
Consequences For Crypto Exchanges & Businesses
The active use of cryptocurrencies and digital assets in international financial crime requires closer scrutiny of such operations by competent authorities. In practice, this may mean greater control of transactions by crypto exchanges and more thorough examination of crypto transfers by investigators. At the same time, closer international cooperation makes it possible to apply more consistent requirements to cross-border transactions.
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