The institution operates in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Europe and currently has almost 150,000 users.
CryptoMarket, a Chilean crypto trading platform, obtained a license issued by the Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). In this way, CryptoMarket can offer its services for the purchase, custody, and sale of crypto assets.
The company would have received the license last November 18th but it made public the news in March 2020.
This crypto exchange house currently operates in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Europe. It has almost 150,000 users and operations in these countries. The company is now regulated by the legislation of a member country of the European Union (EU) to operate with Bitcoin and Ether. The website of CryptoMarket highlights it is an “EU regulated institution”.
It was founded in 2016 and now is part of a selected group of crypto companies that operate in Latin America other crypto exchange houses that operate in the region are Bitso (Mexico) and Mercury Cash, a native initiative of Venezuela, based in Europe with almost 90% of Latin American users. These two companies obtained licenses from Gibraltar and Estonia, respectively.
Stronger Regulations
Since Estonia reinforced Anti Money Laundering (AML) regulations concerning cryptocurrency trading last year, CryptoMarket had to comply with certain procedures to obtain the license.
First, the company was subject to an internal audit, underwent a criminal background check and had to demonstrate compliance with regulations related to Know Your Customer (KYC) protocols. It also had to prove it comply with AML protocols.
“Obtaining both licenses was hard and complex work for CryptoMarket, but the result warrants it”, Denise Valdivia CryptoMarket Chief Operating Officer said.
Besides, the FIU previously examines the criminal records of the owners of the company, as well as the internal audit standards of the startup to grant licenses.
“Among the requirements to be met, regulators require a compliance officer within the jurisdiction of Estonia, which forced us to incorporate a representative who will be based in the country of the European Union”, Rafael Meruane, CEO and co-founder of CryptoMarket commented to a local media.
CryptoMarket was founded in 2016. It started operating in Chile. Only a year later it expanded to Argentina and in 2018 it arrived in Brazil. That year it also announced the opening of its operations for European countries and users.
At the end of 2019, Chilean regulators showed again interest in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, according to a report from the Association of Banking Supervisors of the Americas (ASBA). However, the legal framework for Latin America is not clearly defined yet.
But Meruane considers that the European legal framework related to cryptocurrencies could be an example for Latin America. “Our vision of connecting more people to a new financial system needs innovative regulatory frameworks that enhance the creation of more competitive financial services, while at the same time granting the highest security standards for users in that context. Regulation in Europe is significantly more advanced than in our region”, he said.
Thus, Latin America could need more preparation in regulation issues to protect users and open the doors to new regulated crypto exchange companies.
By María Rodríguez
