Estonian Government to Strengthen AML Framework to Lift Crypto Ban

Richard Marley
January 04, 2022
3 minutes read
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The Estonian Finance Ministry drafted AML amendments that will affect virtual asset service providers in the country, aiming to lift the cryptocurrency ban.

Estonia’s Finance Ministry published an official clarification on newly drafted legislation due to which concern regarding the possibility of banning cryptocurrency arose. According to the rebuttal, the bill still needs to undergo three parliamentary readings, which were drafted and submitted aimed to strengthen the existing virtual asset service providers licensing. However, this will affect any individual who trades or owns virtual currencies.

“The regulation is not applied to customers, but to virtual asset service providers (VASPs) who conduct activities for or on behalf of a natural or legal person as a permanent business. This means that the legislation does not contain any measures to ban customers from owning and trading virtual assets and does not in any way require customers to share their private keys to wallets,” read the official rebuttal.

According to the Estonian Finance Ministry, the proposed bill still is in the legislative phase as it needs to be passed through the upcoming parliament proceedings.

“However, accounts opened with Estonian VASPs cannot be anonymous and Estonian VASPs cannot offer anonymous accounts or wallets,” it added, clarifying that the “identifying information must be retained in a way that would enable it to be linked to the transaction, similar to bank transfers.”

“As someone who actively invests, holds, stakes, pools tokens in DeFi as a resident of Estonia, both privately and through my Estonian companies (for own use, not serving others), I see no change or impact to my ability to do so,” pointed out Sten Tamkivi.

According to the Ministry of Finance, “Supervising such entities is unfeasible and the risk of abuse endangers Estonian VASPs who operate transparently and in good faith. Under new rules, the Financial Intelligence Unit can decline a license where the entity does not have any business operations in Estonia nor has any apparent connection to Estonia.”

In addition to this, another significant amendment also took place that will affect small-scale virtual asset service providers as the capital requirements are also raised. Currently, the threshold was set to 12,000, however, now VASPs will be required to have a minimum of 12,500 or 350,000 euros of capital share, totally based on the type of services they offer.

“This measure will further reduce the risk of registering or keeping dormant VASPs for resale,” explained the Ministry of Finance, although, as Tamkivi pointed out, such measures “could stifle some very early startup activity.”

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ASIC Expands its Team to Enhance Cryptocurrency Regulations
Australia’s financial regulator has enhanced the size of its crypto team. The crypto regulatory measures include their application for financial services licenses and show that specific crypto platforms have particular liquidity in reserve.

After shifting popular blockchain from a proof-of-work (PoW) to a proof-of-stake (PoS) system, ASIC, Australia’s financial regulator, has increased the size of its crypto team.

U.S. Security and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler stated that PoS-based tokens might be classified as securities.

The decision of ASIC to keep PoS tokens for example Ethereum, Cardano and Solana under its remit will further clarify the situation and enable crypto regulations to be more effective. To cope with the latest regulatory reforms, the crypto exchange must either delist the tokens or start complying with robust crypto laws.

Such moves may force a few crypto firms to manage their operating models. Even the largest stablecoin of the crypto market, Tether, has been caught in a controversy created over the failure of holding enough dollar reserves to back the stablecoin.

The crypto regulatory measures include their application for financial services licenses and show that these platforms have particular liquidity in reserve.

The final decision by the regulator has not been issued yet. Greg Yanco, the executive director for marketers, said that ASIC won’t be a “cheerleader for crypto assets.”

SEC Newgate carried out research the last November. It showed that 44% of Australian retail investors reported holding crypto. Out of these investors, only 20% viewed crypto as high-risk.

The chairperson of ASIC responded and said that the regulators were “concerned that there are limited protections for crypto-asset investments given they have become increasingly mainstream and are heavily advertised and promoted. There is a strong case for regulating crypto-assets to better protect investors.”

According to Yanco, until the last year, cryptocurrency was not such a high priority. Still, due to the decline of cryptocurrency in the previous few years and investors wiped out around the globe, ASIC expanded its team. It made crypto one of its “core strategic projects.”

Suggested Read: Regulatory Authorities to File a New Bill to Secure the Citizens from Cyber Criminal Activities

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Estonian Government to Strengthen AML Framework to Lift Crypto Ban

Forensic Document Verification – A New Standard

How Forensic Document Verification is Carried Out?

High-Profile Crime Cases of Document Fraud

Gang Arrested for Printing Fake Documents in Greece

Criminal Network Busted for Distributing Fake Documents

Regulatory Authorities Monitoring Document Fraud

Canada

Australia

Document Forgery Forensic Authentication – Ensuring KYC Compliance

What Shufti Pro Offers?

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