500 000 EUR fine for unregulated crypto exchanges in the Czech Republic

[mlawson71]

The Czech authorities will fine unregulated crypto exchanges with up to half a million euro, according to a new set of rules, that will be adopted in accordance with the EU’s Fifth Anti Money Laundering Directive.

The new rules will come into force by January 2020 and are actually harsher than the requirements proposed in the EU directive.

According to the Fifth AML Directive (AMLD5) every member state should monitor and restrict any money laundering and other illegal activities that involve digital currencies. The EU rules were adopted back in 2018 leaving national regulators until the beginning of 2020 to implement them into their national legislation.

As of January 2020, all companies in the Czech Republic that in some way deal with digital currencies will have to register with the local Trade Licensing Office. If they fail to do so, they will be fined with up to 500 000 EUR or roughly 560 000 USD.

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