Despite the fact that it is going through a rough time, the cryptocurrency market is showing resilience and its adherents are still very large, which means that we are inevitably heading for its evolution.
Well, we will have cryptocurrency exchanges, but the authorities need to get involved quite seriously this time, in the sense that they will need to get the green light from the Ministry of Finance.
This detail is provided by the text of a draft government decision. It is called “Decision for the approval of the authorization and/or registration procedure of providers of exchange services between virtual currencies and fiduciary currencies and providers of digital wallets, as well as the procedure for granting and withdrawing technical approval”.
The document also contains a series of other useful information about the approval strategy that will have to be respected by the players on the profile market, in order to be legal in Romania.
Cryptocurrency exchanges must first go through the hands of the authorities
“Essentially, it is stipulated that the approval of the activity in Romania will be handled by the Foreign Exchange Activity Authorization Commission within the MF. In the case of companies established in Romania as providers of exchange services between virtual currencies and fiat currencies and providers of digital wallets, the MF commission grants an authorization (valid for two years), while providers already active in other EU states address the commission just to get the registration (validity depends on the validity of the authorization abroad)”, according to an avocatnet.ro analysis.
“Considering the provisions of the aforementioned European Union directives, by Government Emergency Ordinance no. 111/2020 regarding the amendment and completion of Law no. 129/2019 for the prevention and combating of money laundering and the financing of terrorism, as well as for the modification and completion of some normative acts, for the completion of art. 218 of the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 99/2006 regarding credit institutions and capital adequacy, to amend and supplement Law no. 207/2015 regarding the Fiscal Procedure Code, as well as for completing art. 12 para. (5) from Law no. 237/2015 regarding the authorization and supervision of insurance and reinsurance activity, the legislation in the field of preventing and combating money laundering was completed, as follows:
– providers of exchange services between virtual currencies and fiduciary currencies and providers of digital wallets were included in the category of reporting entities; – it was forbidden to carry out the activities of providing exchange services between virtual currencies and digital wallets without authorization;
– it was regulated that the authorization and/or registration of providers of exchange services between virtual currencies and fiat currencies and providers of digital wallets is carried out by the Commission for Authorization of Currency Exchange Activity that operates within the Ministry of Finance;
– it was established that the authorization and/or registration procedure, the procedure for granting and withdrawing the technical approval, the notification procedure and the necessary documents are established by a Government decision drawn up by the Ministry of Finance, the Authority for Digitization of Romania and the National Office for Prevention and Combat of Money Laundering”, it is stated in the explanatory note.
Most likely, this project is to be adopted by the Government, after which it will come into force only after it is published in the Official Gazette of Romania.
