The Austrian financial supervisory authority, the Financial Market Authority (FMA), has become vigilant against crypto companies with the recent revocation of the registration of ATIRA GmbH as a virtual asset services provider.
The regulator finalized the decision on Wednesday, citing several lapses in anti-money laundering and tarot financing Obligations on the part of the crypto company.
“The undertaking has failed to implement adequate and appropriate measures for observance of due diligence obligations for the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing and has committed a large number of severe breaches or breaches of duty against the Financial Markets Anti-Money Laundering Act (FM-GwG; Finanzmarkt-Geldwäschegesetz). The undertaking is therefore prohibited from exchanging virtual currencies into fiat money and vice versa,” the FMA stated.
Flagged Another Unlicensed Crypto Exchange
However, the decision against ATIRA was not the not only regulatory action recently taken by the FMA against crypto companies. Additionally, the Austrian watchdog cautioned investors against StormGain LLC, a St. Vincent and the Grenadines crypto exchange.
“This provider is not authorized to carry out banking transactions in Austria that require a license,” the regulator added. “The provider is therefore neither permitted to trade on a commercial basis on its own account or on behalf of others.”
Last year, Austria mandated the requirement for an FMA license for crypto exchanges to operate in the country. This 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 then reported.
Meanwhile, the Austrian regulator is actively flagging unlicensed crypto entities that are taking Austrian clients without acquiring the mandatory local registration.
