The global watchdog will scrutinize jurisdictions with heavy crypto activity, with initial findings due in June 2027
The Financial Action Task Force is turning its attention to the places where crypto actually lives.
The global anti-money laundering watchdog has launched a targeted review of jurisdictions with significant virtual asset activity. The aim is to close the gap between the rules it wrote years ago and how governments actually enforce them.
What the FATF agreed in Paris
The review was agreed at the FATF plenary held October 28 to 30, 2026, in Paris. It was the first plenary under the UK presidency.
The process zeroes in on jurisdictions with major activity involving virtual asset service providers, or VASPs. That term covers the businesses that touch customer crypto: exchanges, custodians, and similar intermediaries.
The goal is to speed up implementation of FATF standards under Recommendation 15. That is the section of the FATF rulebook covering new technologies, including virtual assets.
Initial findings are expected in June 2027. Further results are scheduled for October 2027.
The FATF has not named the jurisdictions under review. It says it will use objective criteria tied to each country’s assessment status, and will focus on key hubs that together cover approximately 97% of the global virtual asset market.
The watchdog also plans to offer technical assistance and support. The idea is to help these jurisdictions shore up their frameworks and compliance capacity, not just grade them.
The compliance scorecard so far
As of April 2026, the FATF had assessed 149 jurisdictions on its VASP standards. Of those, 33 were found non-compliant and 64 were rated partially compliant.
There has been progress on paper. A July 2026 FATF update found that 83% of surveyed jurisdictions had implemented Travel Rule legislation.
The Travel Rule requires crypto service providers to pass along information about the sender and recipient of transfers. It mirrors what banks already do with wire transfers, so funds don’t move anonymously between regulated platforms.
But the same July update flagged significant gaps in risk-based supervision and in the enforcement of licensing requirements for VASPs.
The FATF has also highlighted emerging threats. These include industrial-scale fraud linked to virtual assets and the misuse of stablecoins.
According to the FATF’s findings, criminal networks are increasingly exploiting regulatory weak spots, particularly in jurisdictions with lax compliance.
Background: the grey list and its leverage
The FATF does not write laws for any country. Its power comes from peer pressure and from its lists.
The most consequential is the grey list, formally known as jurisdictions under increased monitoring. Countries on it have committed to fixing strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering regimes, under closer FATF scrutiny.
The October 2026 plenary removed four countries from that list: Bulgaria, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Monaco. That leaves 18 jurisdictions on the grey list.
