{"id":8321,"date":"2023-05-13T18:52:31","date_gmt":"2023-05-13T22:52:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/markets\/crypto\/80-drop-in-no-of-licensed-estonian-crypto-firms-whats-caused-the-fall\/"},"modified":"2023-05-13T18:52:32","modified_gmt":"2023-05-13T22:52:32","slug":"80-drop-in-no-of-licensed-estonian-crypto-firms-whats-caused-the-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=8321","title":{"rendered":"80% Drop in No. of Licensed Estonian Crypto Firms \u2013 What\u2019s Caused the Fall?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

There has been an 80% drop in the number of registered crypto firms operating in Estonia, official data has revealed.<\/p>\n

Per a release from the government-run Anti-Money Laundering Data Bureau, 389 firms have either had their operating licenses revoked or have asked for their permits to be withdrawn since early 2022.<\/p>\n

The government amended the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act on March 15, 2022.<\/p>\n

A slew of new criteria was added to the operating permit application and renewal process for firms wishing to do crypto-related business in the nation.<\/p>\n

And it appears many companies could not keep up.<\/p>\n

The bureau says that only 100 operating permit-holding crypto firms are now doing business in Estonia.<\/p>\n

This figure represents a much more dramatic drop.<\/p>\n

The bureau wrote:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIn the summer of 2021, when Matis M\u00e4eker, the head of the Anti-Money Laundering Office, took office, nearly 650 companies had business licenses for the provision of [crypto] services in Estonia.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But the bureau explained that it, and its partners, had recognized the sector\u2019s \u201chigh risk of money laundering and terrorist financing.\u201d<\/p>\n

It acted soon after, tightening the registration process.<\/p>\n

Around 200 companies voluntarily \u201cgave up their business licenses\u201d as a result.<\/p>\n

Regulatory Standards Too High for Estonian Crypto Firms?<\/h2>\n

The bureau said that it had \u201cinvalidated almost as many operating licenses due to non-compliance.\u201d<\/p>\n

M\u00e4eker was quoted as stating:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWe saw situations during the license renewal application process that would have made any supervisor raise an eyebrow.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The bureau suggested that many of the applications were lacking in many areas.<\/p>\n

It claimed that in some cases, crypto firms had \u201cnamed individuals as board members who were not aware of ever having been appointed to such roles.\u201d<\/p>\n

It added that in other cases, proposals contained scores of typos and logical errors.<\/p>\n

In other cases, firms appeared to have used machine translation to convert pages of foreign-language documentation into (often unintelligible) Estonian.<\/p>\n

M\u00e4eker stated that the bureau was working on a move away from \u201clargely paper-based assessments\u201d to \u201cdaily on-site supervision.\u201d<\/p>\n

He claimed that the \u201cpositive work\u201d done by the bureau \u201chas caught the eye of colleagues from other countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that many of these are \u201cnow interested in learning from Estonia\u2019s experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Late last year, Two Estonians citizens were arrested in Tallinn on suspicion of organizing a $575 million crypto fraud and money laundering scheme.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There has been an 80% drop in the number of registered crypto firms operating in Estonia, official data has revealed. Per a release from the government-run Anti-Money Laundering Data Bureau, 389 firms have either had their operating licenses revoked or have asked for their permits to be withdrawn since early 2022. The government amended the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[243],"tags":[83],"class_list":["post-8321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crypto","tag-featured"],"yoast_head":"\n80% Drop in No. of Licensed Estonian Crypto Firms \u2013 What\u2019s Caused the Fall? | iFintechWorld<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There has been an 80% drop in the number of registered crypto firms operating in Estonia, official data has revealed.Per a release from the government-run\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=8321\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"80% Drop in No. of Licensed Estonian Crypto Firms \u2013 What\u2019s Caused the Fall? 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