Ireland orders crypto due diligence for gambling by Q2 2027

Ireland published a National Risk Assessment and a 30-point action plan on Thursday that lists misuse of crypto-assets among the country’s evolving financial-crime threats and sets a timetable for new rules. The measures were issued by the Department of Finance ahead of a 2028 international evaluation of the country’s anti-money-laundering framework.

The assessment covers money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing. It cites increasingly sophisticated fraud, new technologies and weaknesses in global financial networks as drivers of risk. The document notes criminals are combining cash-based methods with digital tools such as crypto-assets, money mule networks and complex layering techniques.

The plan instructs the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland to establish an industry standard requiring firms to perform due diligence and verify that crypto used as a source of funds is legitimate. The requirement is due to be in place by the second quarter of 2027.

The Central Bank must build a systematic understanding of how emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, create new vulnerabilities and new capabilities for anti-money-laundering work. Supervisors will gain powers to impose fines. Private members’ gambling clubs will move under mandatory licensing and a “closed loop” rule will require gambling payouts to be returned to the original deposit account. The package also increases transparency over company ownership and creates a framework to run money-laundering probes alongside tax and excise investigations.

At the launch, Tánaiste and Finance Minister Simon Harris warned that criminals are adapting rapidly, exploiting technology and operating across borders. He pointed to cases of older people losing savings, families being defrauded and communities harmed by criminal activity. Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan described the plan as a “practical roadmap” and pledged that measures will be delivered in partnership with An Garda Síochána, Revenue, the Central Bank and other regulators.

The Criminal Assets Bureau reported accessing a Bitcoin wallet holding roughly 500 BTC, about €30 million, which was one of a group of wallets seized in 2019 and linked to a larger seizure of around 6,000 BTC. The agency received technical and decryption support from an EU cybercrime centre for that operation.

The risk assessment rates Ireland’s overall money-laundering threat as moderate and its terrorist-financing threat as low. Officials said the package of measures, including the sector-specific crypto standard for gambling, is intended to align regulatory safeguards with the ways criminals use new technology and to prepare for the Financial Action Task Force mutual evaluation in 2028.