The Netherlands to License Crypto Firms that Report Customers

The Netherlands wants to introduce a cryptocurrency licence monitored by the country's central bank, according to a bulletin published in De Telegraaf.

EU Law

The report does not give much detail - only that De Nederlandsche Bank would only award cryptocurrency licences to companies that identify their customers and report suspicious transactions. The report states that this is to fight money laundering and terrorism financing. The bill is currently in public consultation, meaning that people are invited to submit comment to the bank at this point.

Money laundering and terrorism financing are the key points of a new European Law - the fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive. The law is the first iteration to specifically mention cryptocurrency businesses. The sector is a weak point in terms of data gathering, which is a growing concern amongst many international bodies - the Financial Action Task Force, for example, recently criticised the UK for not monitoring it.

The law was passed in June 2018 and is to become national law for all EU members by 2020.

Arnheim

Nederlandsche Bank has actually been interested in Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Read this Term technology since at least 2016, when it announced the opening of its own development centre.

In January, the bank published its official opinion on cryptocurrency, which was that it was too small a field to endanger financial stability and that blockchain technology was not capable of handling the weight of a global financial network. It did reveal however that it had been working on blockchain projects. The bank was against enacting a national ban, saying that it would be difficult to enforce, but warned the Dutch to be careful where they put their money.

This was in a different time, of course - in November 2017, six people came to a Dutch court accused of laundering hundreds of thousands of dirty euros using Bitcoin Bitcoin While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that Read this Term.

More recently, The Block found that the Dutch city of Arnheim has the most Bitcoin-accepting businesses in the world in proportion to its population - 479 per million people. Second place was San Francisco with an incidence rate of 110 per 1,000,000.