Ireland tightens crypto checks for gambling payments and offshore firms as Simon Harris unveils five-point AML plan

Ireland has launched a five-point anti-money-laundering strategy that puts cryptoasset providers, private-wallet transfers, offshore digital-asset firms, and gambling payments under sharper scrutiny. For high-risk PSPs, the practical message is simple: more checks, more transparency, and less tolerance for anonymous crypto flow.

1. Announced by Deputy Prime Minister Simon Harris, the plan prioritizes regulation of digital currencies and is built around five pillars: national coordination, comprehensive risk assessment, strong regulatory frameworks, skills development, and international cooperation. The government says those measures are already being rolled out through different agencies and private-sector channels.
2. Cryptoasset providers will face stricter controls on transfers involving unhosted or private wallets, with intensified background checks aimed at preventing anonymous movement of funds. Irish firms will also need tougher due diligence when dealing with foreign digital-asset companies.
3. The gambling sector is explicitly in scope. Ireland is introducing new limits on the use of cryptocurrencies as a payment method in gaming, adding another compliance layer to a vertical that regulators already view as exposed to abuse.
4. The framework is also aimed at opaque corporate structures. Regulators will push for greater transparency around corporate ownership, with a specific focus on high-risk entities and limited partnerships to identify beneficial owners and expose offshore structures.
5. Harris framed the move as a response to modern criminal networks that use advanced technology and complex international financial chains to hide illegal proceeds. He said Ireland will not be a sanctuary for illicit financial activity, and linked the timing to wider crypto-policy pressure, including MiCA compliance ahead of FATF’s next peer review in 2026.

For PSPs and acquirers serving gambling, crypto, or offshore-facing merchants, the takeaway is that Ireland is moving from general AML language to transaction-level scrutiny: private wallets, foreign counterparties, and ownership structures are all getting pulled into the same compliance net.