In a sign of compliant crypto industry maturation, OpenVASP welcomes Travel Rule Protocol (TRP) under its umbrella. The two teams combine efforts to bring wide scale compliance with FATF recommendations, specifically the so-called Travel Rule.
The OpenVASP Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing compliance in the virtual asset industry, and the Travel Rule Protocol Working Group (TRP Working Group), a global independent industry body of leading virtual asset service providers (VASPs) dedicated to creating standards that adhere to the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) Travel Rule recommendations, announced that they have agreed to combine forces to be one travel rule protocol and operate under the former's umbrella.
Complementing organizations
The Travel Rule Protocol (TRP) is a free standard for communications between VASPs. It aims to encourage mainstream adoption of virtual assets by enabling compliance with anti-money-laundering (AML), sanction, and counter-terrorism-financing regulations in line with the FATF’s recommendations. Today, there are already a number of compatible implementations available. Due to its simplicity, custom implementations can be developed, allowing VASPs to build their own Travel Rule solutions and integrate the API directly into their existing systems.
The OpenVASP Association brings formal governance and a suite of other virtual asset compliance standards and solutions, such as the VASP directory which complements TRP to build a comprehensive mature suite of open compliance solutions. As a working group, the TRPWG leverages the participation of various crypto industry players to the advancement of the protocol.
“We have worked as a key part of the TRP working group and are members of the OpenVASP association, so we saw a clear opportunity to bring them both together. The two groups are a great fit and bring together global market participants, great technology and compliance expertise with strong governance.” - Lucas Betschart, OpenVASP board member and CEO of 21 Analytics
Increasing regulatory pressure on crypto firms
As more and more jurisdictions implement regulations which are aligned with the FATF Travel Rule recommendations, the two organizations expect that many existing VASPs and new entrants into the expanding virtual asset industry will need to adopt a Travel Rule solution in the near future. The joint forces of TRP and OpenVASP hope to make each other stronger, looking to help with the growing need for global development and open collaboration in the sector.
“We are proud of what has been achieved with TRP and to join efforts with OpenVASP to further push forward the maturation of compliance in the virtual assets industry. We see this as a key to the integration of virtual assets into the wider financial system and look forward to helping the development of further industry solutions.” - Olivier Relandeau, DLT Product Manager at Standard Chartered Bank and Zodia
