The FMA said that providers of certain financial services such as cryptoassets are now required to register with it, in line with the European regime for the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing.
The FMA said that the following services are subject to the requirement to register: the issuance and selling of virtual currencies as well as transferring them, trading and exchange platforms for them (irrespective of where virtual currencies are to be exchanged between one another or for legal tender payment instruments or vice versa) as well as providers of custodian wallets.
Such providers are required with effect from 10 January 2020 to comply with the due diligence and reporting obligations for the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing. Unregistered providers may no longer offer their service in Austria from this date onwards.
Applications for registration have been able to be submitted to the FMA since 1 October 2019.