Ever since the launch of the cryptocurrency-blockchain industry, the European Union has not been very welcoming towards it. The majority of the European Union members including Germany, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and France seem to have despised the crypto-industry one way or another.
Amid all this chaos and a rather hostile atmosphere adopted by the EU against cryptocurrencies, one European country has always perceived the cryptocurrency industry otherwise. No matter how bad other European countries talk about Cryptocurrencies and blockchain, Estonia has always talked positively about it.
The country is known for being very friendly and welcoming to all the cryptocurrency sectors and holds it in really high regard. Just because of this attitude towards cryptocurrencies, thousands of cryptocurrency firms are seen operating from the country.
However, the Estonian Authorities have done something in the year 2020 that has shocked the entire cryptocurrency world. Not just the crypto-space but the Estonian Authorities have even shaken all other European countries with its action.
As per reports, the Estonian Government started revoking the licenses of crypto-firms in the country in masses. The data collected against the Estonian Government’s recent actions revealed how many licenses for crypto-firms have been revoked in the running year.
The data shows that the Estonian Government has revoked the licenses of 1,000 cryptocurrency firms in 2020 that was operating in Estonia.
One of the local newsgroups ‘Postimees’ has provided more clear as to why so many licenses have been revoked by the Estonian regulators. As per the reports, the unit responsible for revoking the licenses of about 70% of the crypto-related firms is the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Estonia.
As per the Deputy Secretary-General VeikoTali’ of the Estonian Government, the remaining crypto-firms currently operating in Estonia are also under close observation and monitoring. The Estonian Government is paying very close attention to the activities of these remaining crypto-firms as Estonia takes potential risks very seriously.
Apart from being the Estonian Government’s Secretary-General, VeikoTali is also responsible for heading the Committee that is formed to prevent Terrorist Financing and Money Laundering.
The Postimees has confirmed that after the recent license revocations of 1,000 crypto-firms, there are now only 400 crypto-firms currently operating in Estonia. These 400 crypto-firms remain and are legally allowed by the Estonian Government to operate in the country.
It has been reported that in the last year, there were around 900 such crypto-firms that were allowed to operate in Estonia.
As per sources, the Estonian Authorities and Regulators came into action when a huge money-laundering case emerged and shook the entire Estonian Government. The scandal was related to $220 Billion worth of money-laundering. In response to the money-laundering case, the FIU established that there were 500 crypto-firms that were involved in such activities. Therefore, the FIU revoked licenses of all 500 crypto-firms.
