EU cash cap & ban on anonymous crypto payments results in financial paternalism

EU Parliament lead committees approved anti-money laundering laws that ban anonymous cash payments over €3,000 in commercial transactions, fully ban cash payments over €10,000 in business transactions, and prohibit anonymous cryptocurrency payments to provider-operated hosted wallets with no threshold. MEP Patrick Breyer (Pirate Party) voted against, arguing that the measures would have minimal effects on crime while depriving citizens of financial freedom and creating a honey pot for hackers and law enforcement. The article also cites a 2017 Commission consultation in which more than 90% of responding citizens opposed limiting cash payments, and an academic, Friedrich Schneider, who calculated that banning large cash payments would have "only minimal lowering effects on crime."