26 July 2019 09:47, UTC

According to an announcement from the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority of Germany (BaFin), cryptocurrency companies will have to register for a license with the regulator starting from the beginning of 2020.

The reason for such a change of heart seems to be the implementation of EU-wide Anti Money Laundering laws which entails better KYC regulations as well as trading frequency reports from any financial provider in the region. This will subsequently classify cryptocurrencies as financial assets and therefore potentially introduce a tax on crypto capital gain, of which Germany has been free of for the past couple of years.

Multiple German market experts have commented on the news saying that this initiative is going to force crypto companies outside of Germany and into European states that have refused the new AML laws from the EU.

However, the primary argument against this notion is that the AML laws are not going to harm the profitability of crypto companies whatsoever. Unfortunately, most experts aren’t truly afraid of the profitability so much as the fear of the blockchain losing its primary values in Germany, which is decentralization.

This has lead to angst from traders as well, who could consider switching to off-shore crypto companies in order to retain anonymity.

Image courtesy of Coinewsz

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