Regulation in Austria: "Similar to gold and derivatives"

Is Bitcoin Similar to Gold?

The Austrian Finance Minister announced yesterday that he wants to regulate crypto currencies in the future stricter. The trade should be treated "similar to the trade in gold and derivatives". For transactions with a value of more than 10,000 euros, these should be reported automatically to the Money Laundering Office of the Vienna Federal Criminal Police Office to identify the owners. Also any insider trading and market manipulation will be punished in the future.

The acting Minister of Finance Hartwig Löger (ÖVP) turned yesterday to the Austrian press. Löger believes that online trading platforms should be subject to the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) to prevent fraud and pyramid schemes, as in the case of Optioment.

Next month, the "Fintech Regulatory Council" is to be put together, consisting of experts from different areas. These should consider regulatory approaches and reconcile the planned measures with those of the European Union. The EU Commission will hold a meeting on this topic next Monday. An EU action plan should be ready in early March. However, in recent years the EU has frequently discussed regulation.

Löger said publicly that cryptocurrencies are currently affecting the reputation of financial markets. He also sees the reputation of the new crypto industry at risk, which he considers important. As much as a timely regulation is necessary, neither growth nor future prospects should be impaired in this area. Regulators throughout Europe as well as Austrian economists have repeatedly warned against the effects of unregulated trading and repeatedly demanded the introduction of tight rules, according to Löger.

Also edition of ICOs should be regulated

Löger also suggested that crowdfunding should be subject to approval by means of an Initial Coin Offering (ICO). Accordingly, only companies in Austria could collect funds in this way, which have previously obtained the permission of the Financial Market Authority after extensive examination.