Belgium Imposes Mandatory Registration For Crypto Service Providers

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Crypto service providers in Belgium must register mandatorily

Belgium has decided to impose a mandatory regulation and registration for all those service providers who provide exchange services between virtual currencies and legal currencies. 

The new mandate is also applicable for custody wallet services within Belgium. The Financial Service Marketing Authority (FSMA) is the financial regulatory authority in Belgium to which all these service providers need to register this year. 

The rule was announced on April 29. It is applicable from May 1, so any provider operating before May must notify FSMA about their activities until July 1, 2022. The FSMA stated that service providers must register before September 1, 2022.

A report on Bitcoin.com states that Belgian or European enterprises are among the affected service providers. 

A minimum capital requirement of €50,000 (about Rs 40 lakhs) is required for registration, according to the FSMA website's FAQ section. 

The FSMA also wants to know who the shareholders and platform controllers are and whether they have the appropriate management skills.

The FSMA website clarifies what entities are part of this rule. This new rule targets platforms that carry out purchase or sale transactions using their capital. However, entities that are intermediaries between a client and third-party transactions are beyond the rule's scope.

Operators of automated teller machines (ATMs) for crypto-fiat exchange will also require to register themselves under the new rule.

The watchdog also defines custodial wallet services that must go through the registration process. These are "services for the custody of private cryptographic keys on behalf of clients to hold, store, and transfer virtual currencies." 

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