The bill, which is being fast-tracked to meet Council of Europe international compliance rules, has been met with a filibuster in the form of 594 proposed amendments by the Conservative People’s Party MP for Estonia (EKRE) Ruuben Kaalep, who says the law would harm small cryptocurrency traders and work in favor of established high street banks.

Korobeinik said: “If, for example, 594 amendments get more than one vote in committee and get a vote in the Riigikogu chamber, then the parliament will probably not be able to vote it, in which case it is possible that it will be be tied to a vote of confidence in the Minister of Finance.”

The law is fast-tracked due to a Council of Europe meeting scheduled for next month to assess Estonia’s compliance with international standards, which the ERR says Estonia is currently falling short of.

The head of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Matis Mäeker, stated that: “Virtual currency service providers, in terms of the fight against money laundering (AML), are currently the most important problem in Estonia, a growing problem”.

“If the Estonian state doesn’t take action very quickly, these risks will start to materialize very quickly, and we may end up being harmed by them,” he continued.

EKRE MP Ruuben Kaalep told ETV news program “Aktuaalne kaamera” (AK) that: “One of the tools of the opposition is to submit large-scale amendments. has been confirmed several times this year that it is a way to bring the opposition and the coalition together to find compromises.”

Kaalep says the bill would only help what he called an establishment banking cartel in Estonia and hurt small startups that used cryptocurrency.

He said: “This bill is dangerous and will make it virtually impossible for small businesses and start-ups to use cryptocurrency in their transactions, as it will impose extremely high limits and high requirements on them, ranging from ‘a high state of royalties to hidden VAT introduction methods.’

Kaalep admitted that only four of the 594 amendments relate to cryptocurrency, while the remaining 590 relate to bus schedules between Tallinn and other places in Estonia, even Abruka (which is an island-ed.), and said admitted that the move was a systematic obstruction.

The Riigikogu finance committee is due to discuss how to proceed with the bill next Monday, ERR reports.

The bill, if passed, would significantly tighten regulations on traders of cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and other virtual assets if passed in the Riigikogu; as noted, the bill is fast-tracked and would particularly affect cryptocurrency operators or businesses that had no clear and direct connection to Estonia.

The bill would also increase the capitalization requirement for cryptocurrency companies to €125,000, or €350,000, depending on the area of ​​business, and the criteria for being a member of the board of directors of these companies would be codified.

The FIU has long been trying to tighten rules around cryptocurrency licensing, and 20 lawsuits filed over unissued licenses or related matters are still pending.

Matis Mäeker told investigative weekly Eesti Ekspress last October that a removal of cryptocurrency mining licenses in Estonia was needed.

While concerns about the use of cryptocurrency and other virtual assets and their potential link to money laundering and other nefarious activities have been raised many times in the recent past, the scandal by far The biggest money laundering operation to have engulfed Estonia to date involves the winding-up of the activities of a large Danish brick-and-mortar bank, Danske.

Danske’s branch in Tallinn was shut down in late 2019 following reports that more than €200 billion in potentially illicit funds, mostly of Russian origin, passed through its portals between 2007 and 2015.

Other parties have also engaged in the filibuster. For example, in June 2020, the Social Democratic Party (SDE) tabled over 50,000 amendments to a bill that would have abolished the party’s financial watchdog, the ERJK.

EKRE leader Martin Helme said on Thursday that the party would follow the filibuster tactics with other bills, as it has done before, until the general election in March 2023, saying the strategy worked and was an important part of the work of the opposition.

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