The President of Finland approves the Cryptographic Service Provider Act, and all cryptographic service providers must register to operate

According to foreign media, the Finnish president has approved a law this Friday to regulate cryptocurrency service providers, including exchanges, managed wallet providers and cryptocurrency issuers. This law will take effect next week. The cryptocurrency service provider will need to be registered with the country's financial regulator and meet statutory requirements.

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Finland approves cryptocurrency law

The Finnish Ministry of Finance announced on Friday that the country’s president has approved the virtual money provider bill. The Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (Fin-FSA), which oversees the Finnish financial market, announced on Friday:

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The Virtual Money Provider Act will take effect on May 1. Under the Act, the Financial Supervisory Authority (Fin-FSA) will act as the registry and regulator of virtual currency providers.

Registration requirements

The Financial Services Authority (Fin-FSA) explained that “virtual currency exchange services”, “managed wallet providers” and “virtual currency issuers” all require registration. “These suppliers must meet statutory requirements. For example, they must be reliable and able to hold and protect the client’s funds. They must also separate client funds from their own funds and comply with “anti-money laundering (AML)”. And CFT regulations.

The Finnish financial regulator explained:

“Looking ahead, only virtual currency providers that meet statutory requirements can conduct business in Finland. Virtual currency providers that do not meet statutory requirements will be barred from continuing their business activities and subject to conditional fines.”

The law has a transitional provision that allows existing cryptocurrency service providers to continue to operate in the country by November 1 without registration. The Finnish Financial Services Authority will hold a briefing at the Bank of Finland on May 15 to explain the new regulations to existing cryptocurrency service providers and companies planning to begin providing services.

Compliance with EU law

The Finnish Financial Services Authority stated that these new regulations are based on the EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive (Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive) amendment of May 2018 and added:

“All EU member states must incorporate virtual currency-related services into the scope of “anti-money laundering”/CFT legislation by January 10, 2020.”

Furthermore, registration with the Finnish Financial Services Authority does not mean that the service provider can operate in another EU country, as each member state has its own laws that must be observed.

Prior to the Finnish President's approval of the law, Helsinki-based cryptocurrency market Localbitcoins announced that it has been working to improve measures to comply with the new regulations and initiated a new account registration process that users can verify during the registration process. Basic Information."

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