The Singapore-based crypto exchange Crypto.com, founded in 2016, is currently brutal to ignore in Europe. In addition to substantial banner ads from Formula 1 to soccer to basketball and ice hockey, a commercial clip by the company with Matt Damon, in which investing in cryptocurrencies is compared to achievements of civilization such as the first ascent of Mount Everest or the planned colonization of Mars, caused a stir.
Austrian authorities determined
As purposeful and professional as the crypto exchange is on the PR track, it has likely been sloppy in complying with national financial market regulations. For example, as the financial blog “Finance Forward” reports, Crypto.com is said to have not had the necessary license in Germany for months to recruit customers actively. In Austria, on the other hand, the Financial Market Authority (FMA) became active because the platform had not registered, at least not until now. However, this is mandatory under the national money laundering law.
At the request of STANDARD, the FMA does not want to comment on the cause. But indirectly confirms the investigations concerning the “ongoing proceedings”. The company does not appear in the publicly accessible database of companies registered with the FMA. “The crypto sector is largely unregulated. However, anyone who enters into a business relationship with customers in Austria is obliged under the Financial Market Money Laundering Act to register with the FMA,” said a spokesman.
Crypto.com: “Answered all FMA questions”
The crypto company confirms the test but wants to have already met all the requirements and applied for registration. “Crypto.com has answered all FMA’s questions and applied for local registration. Therefore, there are no further requirements from the regulator in this regard,” a spokesman told STANDARD.
Warning message to customers
Crypto.com has a registered office with a subsidiary in Malta. However, it is irrelevant because the money laundering regulations are not handled by a European authority but are still organized nationally. Crypto exchanges and other market participants who do not register will be prohibited from doing business. If that doesn’t help, a warning message appears.
It has no criminal relevance per se. However, an official message from the authority should warn existing and potential customers. If a company ignores national money laundering regulations, it can quickly become uncomfortable when dealing with other financial service providers such as banks. Furthermore, domestic institutes can reject transactions from and to crypto exchanges at any time and already do so, as research by STANDARD revealed.
German authorities are also examining.
In Germany, on the other hand, the local supervisory authority Bafin (Federal Financial Supervisory Authority) also announced that it would examine the matter after the media report by “Finance Forward”. For months, the crypto exchange had stated that it was working with the Munich-based financial provider CM Equity and relied on its licenses when recruiting customers. But unfortunately, the cooperation never comes about, although both companies now assure that they want to do so.
Crypto.com has been on a speedy growth path. The company stated that the international user base was over ten million last year. As the news stated by Bitcoin Era, the app has been downloaded more than a million times. The company also offers its cryptocurrency called CRO, alongside Visa credit cards issued through a UK-based Wirecard subsidiary. It is one of the 20 most significant crypto projects globally and has a market capitalization of 243 billion euros.
The failed coup of billions: Bitcoins could not be washed white
Bitcoin is anonymous. It is still a widespread misconception. A misconception that a couple from New York might have caught. Both were arrested on Tuesday, and prosecutors are charging them with attempting to launder billions of dollars in bitcoin. One hundred twenty thousand coins were stolen in a hacker attack on the Bitfinex exchange around five years ago. Of these, investigators secured 95,000 bitcoins, which are now worth around $4.5 billion. The whereabouts of the other 25,000 bitcoins are currently unclear.
A married couple – American-Russian citizen Ilya Lichtenstein and American Heather Morgan – have been named as the main suspects. She is no stranger. On several occasions, Morgan has published texts for the US magazine Forbes, was a rapper under the pseudonym Razzlekhan and was head of Salesfolk, a company specializing in e-mail marketing. She also ran Endpass, which offers AI-powered identity verification and anti-fraud services — the ironic icing on the cake in this case.
