1 Atomic swap: a risk for AML regulation? Abstract This thesis deals with atomic swaps. Particularly it deals with their characteristics and relation to AML regulation. The aim of this thesis is to assess the risks that atomic swaps pose to AML regulation and the ways in which these risks can be addressed. The first part of this thesis briefly describes the concepts and technologies needed to understand atomic swaps. Among other things this part describes distributed databases, cryptographic keys, wallets, and virtual currency exchanges. This is followed by a description of the evolution of atomic swaps, how atomic swaps work and what are their advantages and disadvantages. The second part analyses the current regulation against money laundering and terrorist financing from the perspective of FATF, the European Union and the Czech Republic in relation to virtual currencies and atomic swaps. Particularly it focuses on the definition of virtual currencies and obliged entities. After the explanation how atomic swaps work and the analysis of AML regulation in relation to atomic swaps, it is possible to assess whether atomic swaps pose a risk to AML regulation. This is the focus of the third part of this thesis. It first introduces the issue of money laundering and the use of virtual currencies for illicit...