With the European Union’s Transfer of Funds Regulation (TFR) taking effect on December 30, 2024, virtually all Crypto/Virtual Asset Service Providers (CASPs/VASPs) transacting with European customers must ensure compliance or face operational halts. Reachability and responsiveness are crucial for regulated VASPs, as non-responsiveness will prevent future transactions. We’re now at a critical juncture, as this regulation marks the end of the sunrise period and shifts the focus from protocol interoperability to compliant counterparty responsiveness.

At Notabene, we’re thrilled to announce a major milestone in our mission to integrate crypto transactions into the everyday economy. Our latest innovation, SafeTransact for Networks, aims to enhance counterparty responsiveness and bring Travel Rule compliance to existing ecosystems where transactions are already occurring today.

Notabene is uniquely positioned to deliver on this vision, as our extensive network already spans 27 countries, enabling us to process $71 billion worth of transactions in May 2024 alone. With 143 companies actively transacting daily, our clients have successfully integrated with us, setting up robust compliance processes and collaborating effectively with regulators.

It is widely understood that the fragmented nature of Travel Rule protocols has impeded widespread adoption. Initially, the industry thought solving protocol interoperability would boost Travel Rule adoption rates. This hypothesis seemed reasonable enough at the time, but it became evident that building a new network from scratch was very difficult. With many protocols with restricted access, low activity, or too few users, VASPs constantly struggle to reach all of their counterparties and achieve full compliance. We have since learned from experience in real-world applications from customers and regulators that the value of protocol interoperability is only as strong as the user adoption that protocols are able to achieve.

Despite the impressive logos associated with various initiatives, we recognized that many of the biggest names in Travel Rule protocols had little to no activity occurring. To solve this, we shifted our focus from interoperability to reachability. This meant rethinking our approach entirely and not falling into the same trap of inventing yet another competing protocol, but instead solving our customers' core business needs – reaching and receiving responses from transaction counterparties.
​
Visit our SafeTransact for Networks collection to learn more about our solution.