How the Travel Rule works
The sending provider collects details of its customer, the originator, and of the recipient, the beneficiary. It submits them to the receiving provider before the transfer or together with it, in a secure message between the two providers. Under the EU regulation, the details do not have to be attached to the transfer itself, and the sender may not execute a transfer until they are in order.
The receiving provider checks that the details arrived. If any are missing, it rejects or returns the transfer, or asks for them before releasing the crypto-assets. The European Banking Authority notes that several messaging systems exist and not all work with each other, so a provider may need more than one. The details that travel are:
- Originator: name, and distributed ledger address or account number
- Originator: address, official personal document number and customer identification number, or date and place of birth
- Beneficiary: name, and distributed ledger address or account number
- Either party's legal entity identifier (LEI), where one was provided
Thresholds in the EU and the UK
In the EU there is no minimum amount: the list above is what Regulation (EU) 2023/1113 requires for every transfer, domestic or cross-border. A self-hosted address is one not linked to any provider. For a transfer to or from one, the provider obtains and holds the details itself and, above EUR 1,000, takes adequate measures to assess whether its customer owns or controls the address.
In the UK, Part 7A of the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 has been in force since 1 September 2023. Names and account numbers accompany every transfer between cryptoasset businesses.
Where a business outside the UK is involved and the transfer is £800 or more, a further detail of the originator, such as an address, travels too. The threshold has been £800 since 30 June 2026 and was 1,000 euros before.
Who the Travel Rule applies to
Every provider that sends or receives crypto-assets for customers: an exchange, an on-ramp delivering to a buyer's wallet, an OTC desk, a stablecoin checkout. The EU regulation leaves out person-to-person transfers made without any provider.
The FATF revised Recommendation 16 on 18 June 2025, with changes to payment messages that take effect by the end of 2030. For crypto, the FATF applies the Travel Rule through the Interpretive Note to Recommendation 15.
Travel Rule, KYC or wallet screening?
- KYC
- Verifies a provider's own customer, at onboarding and over time. The Travel Rule passes part of that information to the other provider with each transfer.
- Wallet screening
- Looks at the transfer itself and the history of the addresses involved. The Travel Rule says who the customers behind those addresses are.
- Suspicious transaction report
- A report to the authorities. Travel Rule details go to the other provider, and are held for the authorities to request.
Where the Travel Rule shows up in a platform
Modules that do the work
- Compliance reportingTransaction monitoring, the Travel Rule and regulatory reports, ready for your regulator.
- Custody & walletsWallets on every major chain, with MPC custody from leading providers or your own keys.
- KYC / AMLIdentity checks, screening and ongoing monitoring, with the verification provider you choose.
Platforms that need it
Guides that go deeper
- MiCA checklist: launching a crypto exchange in the EUWhat the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation asks of an exchange: authorisation, capital, governance, client assets, the trading platform rules, and the laws that sit beside it.
- Crypto on-ramps: how a buy widget works and who needs the licenceHow a fiat-to-crypto buy widget works inside another company's app, who the regulated party is, and the rules on UK promotions, card fraud, the Travel Rule, MiCA and VARA.
- FCA cryptoasset registration: what UK crypto firms needWhat FCA registration under the Money Laundering Regulations asks of a UK crypto business, how crypto promotions are controlled, and what changes on 25 October 2027.
- Stablecoin payments for EU merchants: MiCA, USDC and the Travel RuleWhat a stablecoin checkout for EU merchants needs: MiCA and payment licences, why USDC and not USDT, Travel Rule checks on self-hosted wallets, euro settlement and refunds.
Where it is written
The laws and standards this page's facts come from.
- The FATF Recommendations, Recommendation 16 and the Interpretive Note to Recommendation 15 (FATF)
- FATF, update to Recommendation 16 on payment transparency, 18 June 2025
- Regulation (EU) 2023/1113, the Transfer of Funds Regulation (EUR-Lex)
- EBA, Travel Rule Guidelines (EBA/GL/2024/11)
- Money Laundering Regulations 2017, Part 7A, Cryptoasset Transfers (legislation.gov.uk)
General information, not legal advice: what applies to you depends on your services and your market.