Estonia joins global regulators in tightening the noose on digital tokens, weighing firmer oversight of cryptocurrency trading
- The government of the Baltic nation is weighing firmer oversight of what’s become a popular European centre for digital coin trading
- Estonia’s Financial Intelligence Unit, affiliated to the Finance Ministry, has the right to grant and revoke cryptocurrency licenses, to fight money laundering
With a key review of its anti-money-laundering enforcement policies by the Council of Europe slated for early next year, the government of the Baltic nation is weighing firmer oversight of what’s become a popular European centre for digital coin trading and the accompanying infrastructure.
“We will toughen our supervision, we will toughen our approach which concerns the market entry,” said Matis Maeker, the director of Estonia’s Financial Intelligence Unit, in an interview. “We were the first country to regulate them, this was a gateway for them to have a license because no one licensed them.”
The FIU is an independent body affiliated to the Finance Ministry and has the right to grant and revoke cryptocurrency licenses as part of its main remit fighting money laundering.
For the euro area and Nato member of 1.3 million it’s an urgent issue. The country is trying to move beyond a sprawling money-laundering scandal in 2018 that saw Danske Bank’s Estonian unit handle €200 billion (US$232 billion) of suspicious transactions.
Since then, authorities have revoked about 2,000 licenses for cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets, and now the Estonian government is considering new legislation to tighten oversight across the board. That includes requirements for audited annual reports, higher capital levels, as well as due diligence thresholds on transaction volumes.