Thirty-nine companies have applied for registration with the Dutch central bank to provide cryptocurrency services, the regulator told news.Bitcoin.com. They include crypto exchanges and custodial wallet providers.
Dutch Central Bank Begins Registering Crypto Service Providers
De Nederlandsche Bank NV (DNB), the Dutch central bank, has started actively registering companies to provide cryptocurrency services.
As a result of the implementation of the fifth EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD), providers of exchange services between cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies and providers of custodial wallets must apply for registration with the central bank. They must demonstrate compliance with the requirements of the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act and the Sanctions Act of 1977.
The 5AMLD implementation went into effect on May 21 in the Netherlands. Since then, cryptocurrency service providers can only carry out their activities if they are included in the public register of the central bank.
A spokesperson for the Dutch central bank told news.Bitcoin.com:
So far we received 39 applications.
According to the public register on the central bank’s website, four companies have been granted registration to offer crypto services. They are Rotterdam-based 2525 Ventures, Amsterdam-based Amdax, Nijmegen-based Blox, and Veghel-based Phoenix Payments.
2525 Ventures also operates under the trade names Litepay, Lightpaid, Lightbit, Litewallet, Litedeal, and Litebit. Phoenix Payments also operates as Anycoin Direct.
“It was with great pride that we received the good news that we were one of the first parties to successfully complete the registration process,” Anycoin Direct CFO Bram Ceelen commented, elaborating:
It was a tough challenge to go through this process. We made significant adjustments to our order process in order to meet the registration requirements.
Companies that were already providing cryptocurrency services before May 21 and have applied for registration before that date can continue to perform crypto activities during the registration process.
The central bank “only supervises compliance with the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act and the Sanctions Act 1977,” it explained. “The registered companies are not subject to the prudential supervision of DNB or the conduct supervision of the AFM [Authority for the Financial Markets]. This means that financial business risks are not monitored and there is no specific financial consumer protection.”
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