This year, the Estonian authorities revoked the licenses of more than 1,000 cryptocurrency firms amid tightening oversight of the cryptocurrency industry and the fight against money laundering.
The Estonian Ministry of Finance announced that the Financial Intelligence Agency has revoked licenses from more than 1,000 cryptocurrency companies since the beginning of the year. The statement followed a meeting of the State Commission on Combating Money Laundering, which discussed issues related to the regulation of cryptocurrency service providers.
The deputy head of the commission, Veiko Tali, stressed that “monitoring and regulation” of cryptocurrency service operators “constantly needs increased attention.” He explained that in 2019, many companies showed interest in obtaining a license to work with cryptocurrency services, and a large number of licenses were subsequently issued.
However, the “controls and interventions” of the Estonian government in the field of cryptocurrencies have been limited, and amendments to Estonian legislation that came into force this year have tightened the licensing of cryptocurrency service operators. According to a statement from the Ministry of Finance:
“In 2020, the Financial Intelligence Agency revoked more than 1000 licenses to operate from companies dealing with cryptoassets. At the same time, there are still around 400 companies offering services in this area in Estonia. Many of these companies have minimal contact with Estonia, and some of the clientele are from distant countries. ”
Tali confirmed that the commission plans to focus on overseeing the cryptocurrency industry next year, specifying:
“A number of important regulatory changes are planned for cryptocurrency services to further regulate this area.”
According to a survey conducted by the Financial Intelligence Agency this summer, Estonian-registered cryptocurrency service providers have the largest number of clients in the United States, followed by Venezuela, Russia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Brazil, India and Iran. According to the study, the turnover of cryptocurrency service providers in the first half of 2019 amounted to more than € 1.2 billion – twice as much as a year earlier.
Recall that in May, the Estonian government approved a bill initiated by the Ministry of Finance to tighten the requirements for issuing licenses to cryptocurrency companies.
