Estonia's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU);has published new;data showing that the number of registered crypto firms in the country declined by 80% due to the new Terrorist Financing Prevention and Anti-Money Laundering(AML) laws.
The amended law came into force on March 15.
- Since the new legislation came into effect, around 200 domestic crypto service providers voluntarily halted operations in the country by withdrawing their licenses.
- Another 189 firms' authorizations were canceled since they did not comply with the new regulations.
- The revised rules increased licensing costs, tightened capital and information reporting requirements, expanded the definition of the virtual asset service provider, and required firms to have legitimate ties with Estonia.
- There are currently 100 active crypto firms registered in the country.
- The most common issues found in the shuttered firms were the board members registered without their own knowledge or with falsified documents and the use of identical documentation in different companies.
- Matis Mäeker, director of the FIU, said it would soon return to normal supervising practices by moving from assessment on paper to daily on-site supervision.