Oslo - January 16, 2020

Estonia is one of the countries that has already introduced regulations for cryptocurrencies. There are two types of licenses in Estonia:

1. The Virtual Currency Exchange Service License, and
2. the Virtual Currency Wallet Service License.

Both are obtained from the Financial Intelligence Unit of Estonia (FIU).

Currently, the procedure to acquire these licenses is relatively simple compared to other jurisdictions, but it is expected to be more difficult in the future.

For now, these are the main steps to follow in order to obtain a License:

a) Registration of an Estonian Company. In theory, the company does not have to be Estonian to get a license but it is highly advisable that it is incorporated in Estonia.

b) Submission of Documents and application together with the government license fee of 345,00 EUR. The following documents are needed :

c) You will later receive the status of the application and whether the FIU compliance officer requires any more information or an interview. Typical information that they will ask for is:

d) The outcome of the application process will be notified within 30 days of the application. If granted, you will receive the Registration Document.

Most of the applications are granted; the main reason for not granting an application is that someone involved has a criminal record.

There is already a legislative proposition in Estonia that will make the process more difficult and also more costly as the requirements for getting and keeping a license will increase.

In this proposition, the governmental fee is proposed to increase up to 3.300 EUR, the term for granting or denying a license would be lengthened from 30 business days to 3 months, and a registered address in Estonia will be required for the company.

All this means that a foreign company will, at least, need to open a branch in Estonia in order to be eligible.

If you wish to learn more about how to obtain a Cryptocurrency License in Estonia, please do not hesitate to contact us, we will be happy to help!

Frederik LUND