Google Play Store briefly attempted to impose strict regulatory requirements on crypto wallets, including non-custodial ones.
The measure, announced on August 13, 2025, covered 15 jurisdictions and threatened to exclude many apps, before the company backtracked under pressure from the community and critics.
Yesterday, August 13, 2025, Google Play Store announced a new policy requiring crypto wallet developers to obtain regulatory licenses to publish their apps.
In the United States, Google required registration with FinCEN as a Money Service Business or a banking status. These requirements involve the implementation of strict anti-money laundering (AML), counter-terrorist financing (CTF), and know-your-customer (KYC) procedures, which do not normally apply to non-custodial wallets.
In the European Union, the policy required obtaining a MiCA license as a digital asset service provider. However, this status is reserved for entities that manage or hold assets on behalf of their customers.
Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies survive this attack, for now
This update to Google Play’s requirements appeared to align with recommendations from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which seeks to extend rules to non-custodial apps whenever even partial control over funds or the user interface is identified.
Under pressure from critics, Google finally backtracked and clarified that its policy did not apply to non-custodial wallets, ending immediate fears that these solutions would be excluded.
terrible https://t.co/n5wmZNFjGz
— jack (@jack) August 13, 2025
This comes just one week after Roman Storm, developer of Tornado Cash, a mixer designed to provide privacy for cryptocurrency users, was found guilty of unauthorized operation of a money transmission service, even though his application was a self-custodial service.
Although several US states now recognize self-custody as a right, there is no guarantee that Europe and other countries will adopt the same position. Unable to attack Bitcoin directly, its detractors could target the apps and services that facilitate its autonomous use, as well as their developers.
This strategy, which is more accessible to states from a legal standpoint, could become one of the major fronts in the regulatory battle surrounding Bitcoin in the coming years.
