The 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive is a European Union legislation. It prevents the EU's financial institutions and virtual asset service providers from being used for money laundering or terrorism financing purposes.

The 5AMLD was put in place by the EU in 2018. EU member states were required to implement this directive by January 2020. This directive amends the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (4AMLD). It includes within its scope virtual assets (VAs) and virtual asset service providers (VASPs), especially cryptocurrency exchanges and custodians.

VAs and VASPs are now considered as obliged entities. Under the legislation, they must comply with several requirements such as:

• performing customer due diligence (CDD);
• filing suspicious activity reports (SARs); and
• registering with local competent authorities.

Link to the directive.