Estonia‘s Head of AML Agency Proposes a 28x Increase in Minimum Capital Requirement for Crypto Firms

Estonia’s head of anti-money laundering government agency wants to scrap its current crypto regulations and start afresh. Up until now, Estonia has been a crypto-friendly jurisdiction, but that could soon change. Estonia should “turn the regulation to zero and start licensing all over again,” the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) chief Matis Mäeker, who was appointed in May this year, told a local news outlet. Mäeker explained that crypto companies had made “tens of billions of euros per year,” but instead of helping the Estonian economy, it has moved to other countries “Their only goal is to get an Estonian license and use it to turn over very large sums, while Estonia gets nothing out of it,” Mäeker said. The chief has proposed stricter rules for licensing crypto startups and raising the minimum capital requirements from €12,000 (US$13,900) to €350,000 ($405,000). A bill proposing regulations for crypto licenses will also be introduced in the Estonian parliament, Mäeker said. In the meantime, he called for existing licenses to be revoked. Last year, the FIU revoked 1,808 cryptocurrency licenses, and currently, there are 400 licenses in Estonia.