In May 2019, the German Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) presented a draft for the implementation of the 5th EU Money Laundering Directive, which has been incorporated into German law (Money Laundering Act) with effect from 1st January 2020. This specifically includes the providers of depository, administration and security services of crypto assets (crypto-custody business) as financial service institutions. Equally, the term “crypto value” has been defined as a financial instrument. 

The result is that companies obligated by virtue of doing business in the cryptocurrency sector must fully consider the catalog of requirements of the Money Laundering Act (GwG) and integrate the safeguards that are applicable to them. This includes implementing a comprehensive transaction monitoring as part of the customer due diligence obligations and thus filtering transactions for anomalies.

Scorechain S.A. provides on-chain analytics to crypto ventures and financial institutions onboarding crypto businesses/individuals since 2015 and offers a Compliance and AML Software for Cryptocurrency activity monitoring. Based on a risk assessment methodology approach, the solution includes among others transaction monitoring tools for crypto assets and a large number of risk indicators to prevent financial crimes and ease fraud detection.

Scorechain S.A. and PwC Germany have been working together since the beginning of 2020 and offer a joint service for companies obliged under the German Money Laundering Act starting from March 2021.

Pierre Gerard, CEO of Scorechain S.A., says “Nowadays, the crypto market is eager for expertise and a high-level AML solution to build strong and reliable business models. Through this new partnership with PwC, we are happy to provide both expertise regarding the German crypto regulation and an effective crypto-monitoring solution trusted by more than 100 customers in 33 different countries”. 

“For PwC, it is of utmost importance that we were able to win Scorechain S.A. as a partner who brings extensive experience in the field of technical transaction monitoring of cryptocurrencies on the one hand and great international regulator acceptance on the other hand to this cooperation”, says Oliver Eis, Certified Accountant (WP) and Partner Assurance Financial Services at PwC Frankfurt.

The advantages of this cooperation are obvious: In order to design the compliance process of transaction monitoring according to regulatory requirements and to digitalize it at the same time, strong technology as well as dedicated industry and process knowledge is necessary. The cooperation between Scorechain S.A. and PwC makes it possible to offer such a comprehensive service to customers.