press release
PRESS RELEASE. In light of the strengthened supervision of the cryptocurrency sector by Lithuania, Gofaizen & Sherle, an international legal and management consulting firm based in Europe, has taken the initiative to assist businesses in navigating these new regulations. According to Lithuanian regulators, these new laws will go into effect in November 2022. In addition, the country will prohibit anonymous accounts and establish more stringent requirements for customer identification.
Gofazen & Sherle, which has helped over 500 companies across 30 countries, has a physical presence in Estonia, Lithuania and Germany.
The New Lithuanian Regulations
According to the Lithuanian Ministry of Finance, the national government has approved changes to the country’s anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing regulations that affect the cryptocurrency sector. The newly approved laws will tighten user identification guidelines and prohibit anonymous accounts. The new regulations will also impose stricter requirements on exchange operators. For example, Crypto exchange operators will be required to register as a corporate body with a minimum capital of 125,000 euros beginning January 1, 2023. In addition, their top management must also be permanent residents of Lithuania.
According to Lithuania’s Finance Minister, Skaiste, the country decided to update its regulations in response to recent events in the region, particularly the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine.
Lithuania has seen a rapid increase in the number of crypto companies starting operations since Estonia tightened its crypto regulations. However, only eight such entities were established in 2020, whereas 188 new firms were registered in 2021, with another 40 added in the first months of this year. According to the finance ministry, over 400 crypto service providers are currently operating in Lithuania.
The Estonia Crypto Clamp-down
Estonia’s new regulations represented a sharp U-turn for a country with a population of just 1.3 million but which last year was home to more than half of the world’s registered virtual-asset service providers (VASPs).
The new rules, which went into effect on June 15, required Estonian crypto companies to meet new transparency requirements; they can no longer have anonymous accounts and must have at least €100,000-250,000 in capital.
Estonia has been a pioneer in regulating cryptocurrency-related services. However, until…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Bitcoin News…
