{"id":352284,"date":"2021-10-13T16:07:14","date_gmt":"2021-10-13T13:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/estonian-regulator-wants-to-revoke-all-crypto-exchange-licenses\/"},"modified":"2021-10-13T16:07:14","modified_gmt":"2021-10-13T13:07:14","slug":"estonian-regulator-wants-to-revoke-all-crypto-exchange-licenses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/estonian-regulator-wants-to-revoke-all-crypto-exchange-licenses\/","title":{"rendered":"# Estonian regulator wants to revoke all crypto exchange licenses"},"content":{"rendered":"

“# Estonian regulator wants to revoke all crypto exchange licenses <\/strong>”
\n<\/p>\n

Financial regulators in the Baltic country of Estonia want to revoke all crypto exchange licenses in an effort to start the entire regulatory regime anew.<\/p>\n

Matis M\u00e4eker, head of the Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), has urged the state to \u201cturn the regulation to zero and start licensing all over again,\u201d local state-run news<\/a> agency Eesti Ekspress reported<\/a>\u00a0on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

M\u00e4eker claimed that the public is unaware of the risks of the cryptocurrency industry.\u00a0Formerly the head of the Anti-Money Laundering department at the Financial Supervision and Resolution Authority, the official pointed out a number of related concerns, including illegal crypto activity, such as money laundering and terrorism financing, as well as the industry\u2019s vulnerability to hacks, stating:<\/p>\n

\u201cThese risks are very, very high. We need to react cardinally and very quickly.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

About 400 companies in Estonia now hold<\/a> a virtual asset service provider (VASP) license, which is more than the total VASP licenses granted in the entire European Union, M\u00e4eker claimed. According to the official, such businesses only use their\u00a0licenses to \u201cturn over very large sums, while Estonia gets nothing out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In its current state, the Estonian crypto industry neither creates jobs for citizens nor contributes \u201canything significant\u201d to the country\u2019s tax authorities, he stated.<\/p>\n

M\u00e4eker proposed to introduce stricter capital requirements for the industry, including potentially mandating crypto companies to have at least 350,000 euros ($404,000) either in cash or securities. The existing equity requirement for industry startups reportedly stands at just 12,000 euros ($13,800).<\/p>\n

Related: <\/em><\/strong>Europe becomes largest crypto economy with over $1T in transactions \u2014 Chainalysis<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The official also suggested requiring crypto companies to set up more secure IT systems and prohibiting them to accept anything but hard cash for investment instead of options such as refinancing property in order to increase investor protection.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As previously reported, the Estonian FIU started a major crackdown on crypto companies in June 2020, having revoked the\u00a0licenses of roughly 70% of all VASPs in the country by December last year. According to Estonian Public Broadcasting, the regulator revoked a total of 1,808 VASP licenses in 2020.<\/p>\n