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Shitcoins Club ATMs seized by Germany’s BaFin

Business

Steve Kaaru
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Germany’s financial markets regulator is cracking down on a digital currency ATM company for operating without a license. The regulator is seizing ATMs operated by Shitcoins Club, which it says hasn’t been abiding by the set rules.

Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, better known as BaFin, has previously issued a cease order to Shitcoins Club, stating that the company was offering services it wasn’t licensed to. BaFin claimed that the company wasn’t licensed to facilitate ‘proprietary trading on a commercial basis.’

For a while, the company indicated on its website that its ATMs were no longer available in Germany. However, a few weeks later, the company got back to its former ways.

Five months since issuing the cease order, BaFin is now stepping up its efforts by seizing ATMs operated by Shitcoins Club. The regulator was quoted by CoinDesk saying the company failed to follow the order and has kept its ATMs in operation since then.

Led by its defiant CEO Adam Grabowski, Shitcoins Club is one of the biggest players in the German digital currency ATMs industry. According to a report by German newspaper Handelsblatt, the company operates 17 of the 67 ATMs in Germany.

BaFin has toughened its stance towards the digital currency industry as it seeks to comply with the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD5). The regulator has been especially stringent with ATM providers.

The tough approach has garnered praise from both the digital currency industry and beyond, with many believing that the ATMs have been used to facilitate crime. Shitcoins Club, for instance, only requires identity verification for deposits above €15,000 (~US$17,657). According to the report, this requirement only came into effect in January 2020 following regulatory pressure.

Christoph Iwaniez, the CFO of digital currency banking startup Bitwala, is one of those who believes BaFin should be tough on digital currency ATM operators. Iwaniez said the ATMs only attract two groups of people—those with a high demand for privacy and those with criminal intent. He believes that it’s the criminals who have led to the rapid rise of the ATMs as conventional digital currency products become easier to trace.

New to blockchain? Check out CoinGeek’s Blockchain for Beginners section, the ultimate resource guide to learn more about blockchain technology.

德国联邦金融管理局没收Shitcoins Club的自动取款机

商业

Steve Kaaru
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

德国金融市场监管机构正在打击一家无牌照经营的数字货币ATM公司。监管机构正在没收由Shitcoins Club运营的自动取款机，称其没有遵守既定规则。

德国联邦金融监管局（Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority），也就是大家熟知的BaFin，此前已经向Shitcoins Club发布了一项停工令，称该公司正在提供未经许可的服务。BaFin表示，该公司并没有获得牌照来促进“基于商业基础的自营交易”。

有一段时间，该公司在其网站上表示，他们的自动取款机在德国已经停用。然而，几周之后，公司又回到了以前的运营方式。

自发布停工令五个月以来，BaFin现在正加紧努力，没收由Shitcoins Club运营的自动取款机。CoinDesk援引监管机构的话说，该公司未能遵守命令，自命令发布以来，自动取款机还一直都在保持运作。

在其目中无人的首席执行官Adam Grabowski的带领下，Shitcoins Club是德国数字货币ATM行业最大的玩家之一。据德国商报新闻网（Handelsblatt）报道，德国运营的67台自动取款机中，有17台是由该公司运营的。

BaFin坚定了对数字货币行业的立场，努力遵守第五号反洗钱指令（AMLD5）。监管机构对ATM供应商的要求特别严格。

这种强硬的做法赢得了数字货币行业内外的赞誉，许多人认为自动取款机被用来为犯罪提供便利。例如，Shitcoins Club只要求对存款金额超过1.5万欧元（约合17657美元）的存款进行身份验证。根据该报告，在监管压力下，这一要求于2020年1月才生效。

数字货币银行初创公司Bitwala的首席财务官Christoph Iwaniez，是认为BaFin应该对数字货币ATM运营商采取强硬措施的人之一。Iwaniez表示，自动取款机只会吸引两类人——对隐私要求高的人和有犯罪意图的人。他认为，正是不法分子促进了自动取款机的迅速发展，因为传统的数字货币产品更容易被追踪。

New to blockchain? Check out CoinGeek’s Blockchain for Beginners section, the ultimate resource guide to learn more about blockchain technology.