To continue our sequence of articles about “How not to lose the cryptocurrency license in Estonia”, Nikolay has prepared a second recommendation. You can read about the first recommendation here and about why Nikolay is an expert in what he is saying here.
The second recommendation is related to a legal requirement indicated in the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act of Estonia. This is easy to comply with, but quite often it became the reason for the revocation of the license. If you do not want to miss a small detail which can impact your license, please read below.
Disclaimer: This is not legal advice and this recommendation is for informational purposes only. It is your own responsibility if you choose to rely on it when doing business in Estonia.
Part 2. Recommendation 2.
Be ready to start the business within 6 month after the issuance of the license
The widespread reason for revocation of the cryptocurrency licenses by the FIU is that some companies were simply not able to start operations within a specific period of time. Under Estonian law, a company has 6 months to start the business once the license has become valid. The important detail here is when it becomes VALID.
During the application, the applicant indicates the specific date for the license validity to start. For example, when you are applying for a cryptocurrency license, but you forecast to not start operations within 6 months, there is a possibility to delay the starting date. If you think it will take 1 year to start operating, just indicate the date in the future when you would like your licenses to start being valid.
This seems simple, however it has become the reason why some companies have lost their licenses. The FIU is responsive and can give an extension only in a case where you can prove that the delay with the launch of the business was outside of your control. If you cannot prove this, the FIU is usually strict with the deadline and exercises the right to revoke the cryptocurrency license.
It is just a small detail in the application to mark the start date for the validity of the license. Therefore, pay attention and discuss it in detail with your legal partner.