Simplecoin, the crypto mining platform that endeavored to make the process accessible and easy to use, has decided to close its doors in the face of incoming regulations targeting Dutch crypto companies. In a story heard many times over the past few months, Simplecoin said that they could not find a way around the tightening of the laws which would have required them to carry out more checks on customers, something they said they weren’t prepared to do.
Customers Given Five Days to Clear Out
Simplecoin made the announcement on their website on Sunday, stating that their last day of operation will be December 31, giving users until December 20 to remove their funds. Simplecoin pins the blame squarely on the fourth Anti Money-Laundering Directive by the European Union, a law that subjects all cryptocurrency handling entities to much more stringent and wider range of Anti Money-Laundering/Know Your Customer (AML/KYC regulations.
These regulations will see Simplecoin categorized as a ‘custodial wallet provider’, forcing these extra requirements upon them, something they aren’t happy with:
We have been searching for solutions for a while, but it has become apparent that there is no way around it. We believe in the power of cryptocurrency and its potential. Mining should…be available to anyone and we refuse to jeopardise our users’ privacy.
Netherlands Crypto Companies in for Tough 2020
The fourth Anti Money-Laundering Directive came into force in June 2017, with member states allowed to implement it in accordance with their own existing frameworks. It has already affected crypto organizations in other countries, with LocalBitcoins increasing their identity checks in February this year off the back of it.
The Netherlands-based Simplecoin has escaped until now as the Dutch government has considered how best to implement the new legislation, but Simplecoin expects this to happen in early 2020 and has chosen to get out now before the matter becomes even more complicated.
