There’re two ways to look at this news one view is that it’ll force people to avoid bitcoins because of KYC hassles, second view is that EU has recognised crypto’s as an currency and this may pave the way for legalising it. As the article states many companies are shutting down, and many are making sure they comply with the rules hence only by February or March will we will come to know it’s real impact on bitcoin prices.

AML regulations does not necessarily mean that they are against cryptocurrencies. What they are against are illegal things involving cryptocurrencies and not cryptocurrencies per se. Not that I'm trying to justify nor defend regulations, but in a market wherein almost everyday, hacks, thefts and other illegal activities are happening, regulations would definitely help. Besides, if this promotes growth on all fronts of cryptocurrency, why try to see it in a bad light?

Edit: pre-emptively hit post button.

Exactly! I voice the same opinion about 5th Anti Money Laundering Directive. In 2019, we have come across numbers of scam attempts which siphoned out billions of dollars from commoner like us! Majority of the scammers use various techniques like wasabi wallet and bitcoin mixers to launder that huge amount of money which took full opportunity to the pseudo anonymous nature of bitcoin and other cryptos! That has to stop at any cost!

If this AML directive forces big players to comply with KYC policy and on-time reporting of unusual events to the enforcement agencies, such incidents may reduce and probably make the cryptos safer for legit users!

Why do you look.at this as a negative news? In fact this is just the opposite and it's not aimed against cryptocurrencies and its users and especially doesn't anything to do with cemtralization.
Anti money laundering measures will help to establish Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a safe and legal payment method, not some illegal stuff that are using only criminals for their illegal activities. Also, KYC is positive for Bitcoin users because it helps against abuse and fraudulent activities.
So, this is not negative news for European crypto community but positive one and users in Europe will have advantage because they will be legaly protected.
I wish that people who use Bitcoin were more educated then we would have less fake news and conspiracy theories that spread unjustified fear among users.

These new regulations already forced to close some services which works as hosted wallets, money transfer services and etc.
It's understandable thing looking from governments perspective. There is big money moving in crypto world and it's normal that they want to control everything.
But for us - crypto users, it's sad and worrying thing. Crypto is place where we had some privacy and anonimity and now they want to took it from us. KYC on exchanges already become common and understandable thing. So, we will have to get use to see it on other type of crypto services.
Interesting, how these regulations will affect mixers. As I understand, they are one of main targets of these regulations. Does it means that Chipmixer & co will stop working in EU?

don't worry, in my opinion it's only a part of European countries, not all of it. And also I think it's just bluffing ... even if later it is true, then we will still support bitcoin .. !!

Though it was named as an "Anti Money Laundering Directive" and not "Anti Bitcoin Policy", the crypto community is still suffering because of these strict regulations. I'm eager to understand their side, that they only do it to avoid any mischiefs but at soke point I can't rid of my mind that they're slowly killing crypto. So I agree with you somehow, they are now starting a war against it .

I see two sides of the story in here, one is good and one is bad. It's good in a sense that evil doers will now have a reason to stop their bad deeds once and once and for all (unless they want to get jailed) however it seems that the crypto community are choked. Now decide which side weighs greater.

Bitcoin will be getting a LOT of bad news, this is just the beginning !!!  Just look price collapses as we are seeing now, that will feed on itself as people bail out on Bitcoin.  I wonder how long it takes for people here to realize things are not going to work out like they think...

Hard Facts

I don't see it as a war though. It's not like they are banning cryptocurrency altogether, they are just making some regulations to avoid money laundering and potential scams. The businesses still have the ability to operate if they can comply to the new law. I mean, this new laws would also mean that people could be sure of something if they are legit and their government recognized the business.

It is an objective fact that we cannot deny that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been used in black markets or illegal transactions. We cannot deny, so, with the newly issued regulations, it will minimize the level of shadowing in Bitcoin transactions. Clearly, we can see that it is not a battle against decentralization, it only helps bitcoin better in the future. My opinion