Financial regulators in the Baltic country of Estonia intend to revoke all crypto exchange licenses, in a bid to rejig the entire regulatory regime. This comes after the government revoked about 2,000 licenses last year.
Matis Mäeker, head of the Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), urged the state to restart the regulatory licensing process, according to a local news report.
Mäeker’s reason for this drastic overhaul is the public’s ignorance of risks associated with crypto trading. These include money laundering, terrorism financing, wallet hacks, and other financial impropriety. In Mäeker’s words, “These risks are very, very high. We need to react cardinally and very quickly.” The FIU official previously led the Anti-Money Laundering department at the Financial Supervision and Resolution Authority.
No less than 400 companies in Estonia hold a virtual asset service provider (VASP) license. More so, this outnumbers the total VASP licenses in the entire European Union, according to Mäeker. The official suggested that Estonia does not benefit from the companies’ use of the licenses even though it issued them.
Mäeker went further, stating that the Estonian crypto industry does not create jobs nor contribute taxes. He explained that by imposing stricter capital requirements on the industry, only viable and capable participants will be in operation. The FIU official proposes that crypto companies possess at least 350,000 euros ($404,000) either in cash or securities. This, he believes, will aid better regulation.
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