Estonia Hardens Crypto Industry by Adding New Amendments to Regulations

The Finance Ministry of Estonia will soon add amendments to a financial bill which was recently passed, purposely meant to "harden" cryptocurrency-related regulation, according to a report by Äripäev, an Estonian financial newspaper.

Per the article, the "updated version of the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act" was put into effect last week in Estonia, complying with legislation from the European Union's " Fourth Money Laundering Prevention Directive." 

Risks Involved 

The regulation brought in last week purportedly defines crypto exchange service offerers and crypto payment service offerers, while previously there existed only "alternative ways of payment service offerers."   

Nevertheless, the Financial Supervision Authority (FSA), has since proclaimed that digital currencies and the firms providing cryptocurrency-related services bring money laundering risks, which is purportedly the very reason for the new changes, according to the financial newspaper.   

What a Rollback!   

Recently, Estonia postponed its plans of releasing Estcoin, the country's own crypto, following criticism of the initiative by Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank. It was going to become the first nation in the entire world to have a government-backed ICO, as Coinidol reported in August 2017. 

Similarly, Canada is seeking to employ several regulations to combat virtual currency being applied to money laundering, following recommendations by the Canadian House Finance Committee, while reviewing the "Proceeds of Crime Money Laundering & Terrorist Financing Act" last month.