One of many nations lauded as being among the many most crypto pleasant within the European Union revoked the licenses of greater than 1,000 crypto companies in 2020.
In line with information outlet Postimees, Estonia’s Monetary Intelligence Unit, or FIU, has revoked the licenses of roughly 70% of digital foreign money firms working within the nation this yr. Veiko Tali, the Deputy Secretary Basic of the Authorities Committee for the Prevention of Cash Laundering and Terrorist Financing, mentioned the remaining crypto companies additionally required “shut consideration” given the potential dangers:
“We have to monitor the event of latest applied sciences and handle the related cash laundering dangers.”
The media outlet acknowledged that there are 400 crypto-related service suppliers remaining with the suitable licenses in Estonia following the purge. The monetary watchdog reported that 900 such companies operated within the nation final yr.
A serious crackdown occurred in June, when the FIU revoked the licenses of 500 crypto companies in response to a $220 billion cash laundering scandal in Estonia. Regulators withdrew the permits because the crypto firms had failed to begin operations inside six months of being licensed.
On the time, FIU head Madis Reimand referred to as the monetary watchdog’s actions the “first step in tidying up the market.”
In 2017, the nation was seen by many as a crypto trailblazer with a sequence of legal guidelines seemingly meant to encourage exchanges and ICOs. Nonetheless, the regulatory panorama in Estonia has since modified, and goes past the necessities of the EU’s 2019 Know Your Buyer legal guidelines, making the trail for licensed crypto companies making an attempt to adjust to native rules harder.