Estonia Cryptocurrency License Amendments from March, 10th 2020
Updated: Dec 28, 2019
Starting a cryptocurrency-related business has become quite lucrative in Estonia, mainly because of the favorable government policies over foreign investment and cryptocurrency regulations. However, the upcoming amendments effective from the 10th of March 2020 have created a lot of buzz in the entire crypto community, how is it going to shape the crypto industry in the world’s first digital nation, Estonia?
The law will be enforced from the 10th of March next year, while companies that hold the license to operate a crypto business in Estonia have time until the 1st of July 2020 to comply with the new amendments.
Consulting24 team is dedicated to helping its existing clients to comply with the amended Act and welcomes new projects onboard.
Main changes
1. The name and structure of licenses are changing;
2. Crypto-to-crypto exchange becomes regulated;
3. The period of application review is extended up to 60 days. FIU may extend a license issuance period to 120 days;
4. The cost of the state fee for application review is increasing by almost 10 times to 3,300€ per license;
5. The size of the required contributed share capital is increased to 12,000€ (min. requirement at the moment is 2,500€);
6. Mandatory banking account in an EEA country.
7. Virtual currency service providers will have the same status as financial institutions in Estonia meaning that the virtual currency service providers will need to have the same level of AML/KYC compliance as for example E-money Institutions or Payment Institutions that are regulated by the Estonian FSA. 8. The registered office, the actual business as well as the location of the management board need to be in Estonia.
9. Stricter approach to due diligence of the management board members, e.g. the management board have to have relevant experience, skills and expertise to provide the services.
Amendments enter into force on 10.03.2020;
Existing licensed companies need to put their businesses in order by the 1st of July, 2020;
Consulting24 is the fastest growing consulting firm in Estonia with the prime focus on blockchain projects. We have helped our clients to obtain over 200 licenses in 2019 alone.
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