Crypto Firms Serving Netherlands Must Register With Dutch Central Bank

The Dutch Central Bank is taking a tougher stance on the cryptocurrency industry, citing new European Union anti-money laundering (AML) laws.

Beginning Jan. 10, 2020, companies or persons involved in the conversion of crypto to fiat currencies or offering crypto deposit services will be required to self-register with the De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), the DNB announced Tuesday.

The order includes firms based outside the Netherlands that are serving Dutch nationals, even via the internet.

"It is irrelevant whether they are established in the Netherlands," a DNB representative said in a Q&A, adding:

"Also providers that offer such services from another EU member state ... for example via a website, must register, regardless of whether the provider is already registered in that member state."

DNB says the oversight is to meant to comply with the fifth EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD 5), which will also go into effect on Jan. 10, 2020.

The initial registration period will last six months after the January date. Companies that fail to submit registration beforehand could be forced to shut down once the rules go live, the DNB said.

“During these six months you must therefore already comply with the requirements of the law,” the DNB said. "If, at the time the law comes into force, you have not submitted a request for registration, you must stop your service."

Further, significant shareholders and directors must also be able to prove their AML ability to a DNB assessment.

Under AMLD 5, member states must issue crypto regulations adhering to the policy before Jan. 10. Interpretation of what regulations must be considered or created falls to each state's discretion, the release says.

In the Netherlands, the DNB will take into account past actions of each company in addition to the “the specific function, the nature, size, complexity and risk profile of the company, and the composition and functioning of the collective.”

Earlier this spring

, the Dutch Financial Criminal Investigative Service shut down coin mixer Bestmixer.io, seizing multiple servers in the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

The DNB did not respond to questions by press time.

Dutch Central Bank via Shutterstock