The Austrian financial supervisory authority, the Financial Market Authority (FMA) made a big move against another cryptocurrency company by revoking the registration of BTM Service GmbH as a virtual asset service provider.
The administrative decision was finalized a week after it was publicly announced by the regulator last Friday. The move was made at the request of the crypto company.
Now, the company cannot offer any types of crypto to fiat or vice versa exchange services within the FMA’s jurisdictions. It cannot even operate Bitcoin vending machines.
“BTM Service GmbH’s registration as a virtual asset service provider pursuant to Article 32a para. 1 of the Financial Markets Anti-Money Laundering Act (FM-GwG; Finanzmarkt-Geldwäschegesetz) was revoked in an administrative decision issued by the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) on 19.11.2021. It is, therefore, prohibited for the entity to conduct the exchanging of virtual currencies into fiat money and vice versa (Article 2 no. 22 lit. b FM-GWG) as well as conducting such transactions using Bitcoin vending machines,” the official announcement stated.
Registration Is Mandatory
Cryptocurrency companies operating in Austria mandatorily have to register themselves with the local financial markets authority. This has led to the submission of applications from 40 prospective digital assets providers by the beginning of 2021, but licenses were granted to only 18 firms, Finance Magnates reported earlier.
The decision against BTM Service came only a week after the Austrian regulator revoked the registration of ATIRA GmbH as a virtual asset services provider, citing lapses in anti-money laundering and terror financing obligations.
Furthermore, the regulator is flagging the services of other crypto companies that are operating in the country without obtaining mandatory authorization.
