Estonia Grants License to Chilean Crypto Exchange

[Mercury]

Chile’s crypto trading platform CryptoMarket has obtained a license issued by the Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), allowing it to provide services for the purchase and sale of crypto assets.

Founded in 2016, CryptoMarket joins a select group of Latin American crypto companies operating in the region, with Bitso (Mexico) and Mercury Cash (Venezuela) obtaining licenses from Gibraltar and Estonia respectively.

The exchange, which has 150,000 users and operations in Chile, Brazil, Argentina, and Europe, had to incorporate a representative in Estonia to obtain the license. It was subject to an internal audit, underwent a criminal background check and had to demonstrate compliance with regulations around Know Your Customer (KYC) protocols and Anti Money Laundering (AML). Estonia tightened AML regulations in relation to cryptocurrency trading last year.

"Obtaining both licenses was hard and complex work for CryptoMarket, but the result warrants it,” said Denise Valdivia, CryptoMarket’s COO. CryptoMarket’s website now boasts of being an “EU regulated institution”.

European crypto regulations more advanced

While a report late last year from the Association of Banking Supervisors of the Americas (ASBA) highlighted the interest of Chilean regulators in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, the legal framework is not yet clearly defined there.

Rafael Meruane, CryptoMarket’s CEO and co-founder, praised European regulation as innovative and superior at this stage:

“Our vision of connecting more people to a new financial system needs innovative regulatory frameworks that enhance the creation of more competitive financial services, while at the same time granting the highest security standards for users and in that context. Regulation in Europe is significantly more advanced than in our region.”

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