Rauno Kinkar, attorney-at-law and attorney Henri Ratnik from LEXTAL law firm sent a warning letter to the heads of state. They criticized the planned changes in the regulation of cryptocurrency.

“As a result, the virtual currency sector will be liquidated in Estonia as a whole,” they warned. “Figuratively speaking, service providers will pack things up and go to Lithuania. In this way, thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of euros of investments will leave Estonia. Both existing and future. We will also lose tax revenue. ”

Lawyers mentioned that virtual currencies would not disappear. “Foreign companies can offer the service to Estonian consumers. As a result, Estonian consumers are also in a worse position than today, and the global risk of money laundering and terrorism remains. At the same time – if the respective services come in from abroad, the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and the termination of the necessary supervision are complicated compared to situations where many service providers would gather in Estonia, where they can be supervised. ”

Lawyers’ assume that there is fear of the legislature and the authorities behind the bill. Their desire to impose stricter requirements on crypto companies than on the rest of the financial sector (“it is inherently stupid!”), The Estonian state has no right to ban the activities of Estonian companies abroad, and the draft criminalizes the actions of many entrepreneurs.

Several LEXTAL’s clients operating with cryptocurrencies are worried about the future.

Kaja Kallas, Minister of Finance Keit Pentus-Rosimannus, Minister of Justice Maris Lauri, Minister of Enterprise Andres Sutt and many others have received the opinion.

Article about the situation in Eesti Ekspress: https://lnkd.in/e9KSq4xV