Estonia’s Ministry of Finance rahandus clarified there is no plan to ban crypto trading and non-custodial wallets after news of a draft bill spread through social media last week. iamsandali reports.
that new draft legislation for virtual asset service providers will not ban customers from owning or trading crypto, but the proposed requirements for VASPs could apply to decentralized wallet creators, including hefty capital requirements.that the proposed bill would effectively ban decentralized finance and non-custodial wallets. A non-custodial wallet gives users full ownership of their crypto and private keys.
“This means that the legislation does not contain any measures to ban customers from owning and trading virtual assets and does not in any way require customers to share their private keys to wallets,” the statement said.addressing commonly asked questions about the proposed bill. According to the Ministry, the new bill is Estonia’s answer to the Financial Action Task Force guidance on regulating VASPs.
The new bill also proposes steeper capital requirements for VASPs. Depending on the services provided, VASPS will now be required to have a minimum share capital of 125,000 euro or 350,000 euro . For comparison, the current minimum is 12,000 euro or around $13,500. The FATF guidance clarifies that DeFi apps themselves are not VASPs, but says “creators, owners and operators or some other persons who maintain control or sufficient influence” in DeFi arrangements can fall under the FATF definition of a VASP.