Travel rule
An anti-money-laundering rule requiring identifying details of sender and recipient to travel along with crypto transfers between regulated
The travel rule requires financial institutions handling a transfer to pass identifying information about the sender and recipient along with the money, so the details travel with the payment. It began in traditional banking, and in 2019 the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the international anti-money-laundering standard-setter, extended it to crypto businesses.
In practice: when you withdraw from one regulated platform to another, the sending platform must transmit originator and beneficiary details to the receiving one, typically above a threshold amount that varies by jurisdiction. The EU implemented the rule for crypto through its Transfer of Funds Regulation, applying from the end of 2024 alongside MiCA.
This is why exchanges increasingly ask questions that surprise people, such as whose wallet a withdrawal is going to, or whether an incoming deposit came from an account in your own name. A transfer to your own self-custody wallet is generally permitted; the platform may still ask you to confirm you control the address.
The rule applies to regulated intermediaries, not to the blockchain itself. A wallet-to-wallet transfer between two private individuals carries no travel-rule paperwork, because there is no institution in the middle to carry it.