The European Union, the United Kingdom and seven other countries have signed an Additional Protocol to the Warsaw Convention that updates the treaty for the use of crypto assets in crime and terrorism financing cases.
The new text brings virtual assets and virtual asset service providers formally within the convention’s scope. It also broadens the powers of financial intelligence units, creates faster cross-border procedures, and sets out how confiscated digital assets and recovered funds can be handled between participating states.
Who signed the protocol
The EU and eight countries are listed among the first signatories to the protocol. Those countries are Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg, Monaco, Montenegro, San Marino, and the United Kingdom.
The measure is framed as a modernization of the Warsaw Convention, with the stated aim of improving oversight of crypto-related crime and strengthening international cooperation on asset recovery.
Crypto assets added to the treaty framework
A central change is the inclusion of defined terms covering virtual assets and virtual asset service providers. By adding them to the convention’s framework, the protocol extends existing anti-money-laundering and confiscation tools to cases involving digital assets.
The update is intended to address crimes in which crypto is used to move or store value, including matters tied to money laundering and terrorism financing, according to the source article.
Broader powers for investigators and intelligence units
Under the protocol, financial intelligence units receive expanded authority to suspend crypto transactions that are suspected of being linked to money laundering. The text also aims to improve cooperation across borders by speeding up information requests between jurisdictions.
Another notable provision allows urgent confiscation of virtual assets without prior notice in cases where a transaction presents a risk. The protocol also provides for the creation of Asset Recovery Offices and Asset Management Offices to deal with seized or confiscated digital assets.
Rules for sharing recovered funds
The agreement includes a mechanism for distributing recovered funds worth more than €10,000 among the countries involved in a case. It also contains provisions allowing confiscated assets to be directed toward social reuse or other public-interest purposes.
Those rules are designed to give participating states a clearer framework for managing proceeds recovered through cross-border crypto investigations, especially where several jurisdictions have taken part in tracing or confiscating assets.
What the signing means next
The signing marks an early step in a broader effort to update international legal tools for digital-asset cases. Based on the source report, the immediate significance is that participating governments have backed a common framework covering crypto-related seizure, information sharing, and asset recovery.
The article does not describe further implementation dates or additional countries, but the protocol sets out the next confirmed direction: tighter coordination among signatories when suspected illicit crypto transactions and confiscated virtual assets are involved.
Source: news.bitcoin.com