While regulatory bodies around the world are still making their minds up about cryptocurrency regulation, Netherland’s central bank, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), has just announced that it will start regulating the crypto sector in the country by January 10, 2020.
DNB has invited all crypto exchanges and wallet providers to submit more information about their activities and come forward. The central thing is that once these regulations come into effect, all crypto providers will have to register with DNB in order to continue their operations.
This is what the bank stated in regards to the new move:
In concrete terms, firms offering services for the exchange between cryptos and regular money, and crypto wallet providers must register with De Nederlandsche Bank.
DNB is even going much deeper than simply have the crypto operators sign up with the bank. DNB will actually assess the exchanges’ board members, CEOs, founders, etc. The specific purpose would be for the crypto operator to demonstrate that they are ready to prevent money laundering or any other illegal activities that may come up from cryptocurrency trading and operations.
The new regulatory framework comes from the introduction of fifth European anti-money laundering directive or the so-called AMLD5. Under this new directive, the bank is required to register the crypto operators and regulate them. The date by which the new regulation will come into effect is January 10, 2020. This means that all exchanges must register with the bank as of that date precisely.
The Netherlands has realized that the cryptocurrency industry needs serious supervision and has already recommended earlier that all crypto exchanges and operators must get a special license to continue their regular operations.
The request for submitting information is for all businesses that:
anyone offering services for the exchange of virtual and fiat currencies in, or from, the Netherlands in a professional capacity or on a commercial basis and anyone offering custodian wallets in, or from, the Netherlands in a professional capacity or on a commercial basis.
However, the request is not obliging these businesses to submit information. The bank will approach them in due course, as the regulatory framework becomes clearer and January 10, 2020 comes closer. Once the regulatory act comes into effect, DNB will have the right to supervise crypto businesses, request any relevant information and sanction accordingly. According to press, there will be some transition period for crypto exchanges, ATMs, intermediaries and all other businesses that are affected by the new framework to come forward and essentially become compliant with the bank’s new regulatory rules.
More information about the Netherlands can be found here: