- An official clarification regarding the draft legislation submitted not long ago, which also ignited rumors regarding the crypto ban, was revealed by the Estonian Finance Ministry.
- The proposed law, still awaiting to be passed, will not influence the people in possession of crypto.
- There will be no ban on crypto, but the crypto service providers will have to comply according to the AML regulations.
No Ban on Crypto
It was stated by the Estonian Finance Ministry that the latest draft legislation for the VASPs or virtual asset service providers will not be banning the clients from trading or possessing of crypto assets. But the suggested requirements for the VASPs could be applicable to the creators of the decentralized wallets, involving robust capital requisites.
The statement came after a piece of news reported that non custodial wallets as well as DeFis will be banned in the nation through the proposed bill. Custodial wallets provide complete ownership of personal keys and digital assets to the users.
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The tweet was pointing out the latest regulations to be applied by the draft bill that got the approval by the Parliament of Estonia. Keit Pentus-Rosimannus, Finance Minister of Estonia, said that the bill was customized to make the Anti Money Laundering requisites for VASPs, specifically to lower the creation of incognito accounts. If it gets an approval under the new regulation, Estonian VASPs will need to recognize their clients while offering the wallets or accounts.
As per the statement, “This means that the legislation does not contain any measures to ban customers from owning and trading virtual assets and does not in any way require customers to share their private keys to wallets.”
An informational page was also released by the Finance Ministry of Estonia, which addressed the most usual questions asked regarding the proposed bill. As per the Finance Ministry, the bill is Estonia’s solution to the FATF guidance on governing the VASPs.
As per the publication, the Financial Intelligence Unit of Estonia, that started to provide licenses to VASPs back in 2017, was clement regarding its license requisites for cryptocurrency service providers. Over 1000 licenses were canceled by FIU for the crypto firms having bad connections with the nation. As per the latest law, the VASPs licensed by Estonia need to function within Estonia or “have a demonstrable connection” to the country.”
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FATF to Define Crypto
It was clarified by the Ministry that the FATF definition of VASPs will be utilized by the proposed law, including issuers, platforms facilitating ICOs, and cryptocurrency exchanges. dApps, including non-custodial wallets, might also be defined by the FATF’s latest definition of Virtual Assets Service Providers.
It is clarified in the FATF guidelines that Decentralized Finance Apps are not VASPs. Still, it states “creators, owners and operators or some other persons who maintain control or sufficient influence” in arrangements of Decentralized Finance, might also be defined as per the latest definition of the VASPs, defined by FATF.
Crypto-related services in Estonia will not be banned as per the Finance Ministry. The Ministry said the ones who “wish to provide such services in Estonia” must comply with the AML regulations. The bill is still waiting to be passed from the Parliament and might be enacted in 2022’s first half.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/01/05/crypto-will-stay-in-estonia-but-with-regulations/