The reasons for what is happening
Recently, the Law on Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism introduced enhanced requirements. After they started operating, more than 200 cryptocurrency companies decided to abandon the licenses they received.
Additionally, RAB itself recalled them from about 200 more companies. The reason was called non-compliance with the requirements. In total, 389 companies have ceased their activities on the territory of Estonia.
Mathis Meekera, who heads the department, said that when the permits were extended, "suspicious circumstances" were discovered. In his opinion, this may indicate illegal activity or connection with it.
In some cases, persons who were appointed to senior positions were identified, but they were not aware of this. They lacked the necessary business reputation, and their resumes turned out to be fake. There were also cases when the information provided by companies had either errors or the necessary logic.
According to the legislation, cryptocurrency companies must have a certain level of capital, as well as allocate experts to comply with AML requirements. At the beginning of the month, there were about 100 valid licenses for working with cryptocurrencies in the country.
