Netherlands’ Central Bank Gave Crypto Companies Two Weeks

The Crypto industry is developing despite the coronavirus pandemic as crypto companies continue to expand their services. However, there are certain challenges as well. One of them is connected with regulations.

For example, the Netherlands’ central bank is moving to quickly enforce Dutch anti-money laundering (AML) laws, approved by the parliament in April. As a reminder, the Dutch parliament passed AML laws to comply with the European Union’s AML directives and standards.

Interestingly, the Dutch central bank gave companies less than one month to register, as crypto companies must register by May 18.

Several weeks ago, on April 21 the Dutch Upper House approved its “amended” Fourth Anti-Money Laundering (AMLD4) laws. Companies that convert crypto to fiat or offer crypto custody services have less than two weeks to comply with this requirement. Moreover, if they do not register by the deadline, the central bank will take measures against such companies.

The central bank and crypto companies

Importantly, the deadline comes at a time when Dutch crypto companies made it clear that they do not support this law. According to the crypto companies, this law created additional pressure on the industry.

However, crypto-to-crypto companies do not need to register.

Interestingly, it was not immediately clear why the Dutch central bank and parliament cited the EU’s amended “fourth anti-money laundering directive” in their respective statements. The country already adopted a more recent directive, so it is hard to explain why they decided to mention AMLD4.

Companies should take into account that, the central bank will impose fines. However, this is not the biggest threat, as they face the prospect of immediate cease-and-desist orders.

The AMLD5 gave EU members until January 10 to implement the directive. However, the Dutch parliament only adopted this directive on April 21. Hopefully, a draft application is enough to fulfill the registration needs for the mid-May date.