Bitcoin ATM Firm Bity Takes On Swiss Regulator For 'Undemocratic' KYC Limits
Bity, the operator of 45 Bitcoin ATMs in Switzerland, is moving ahead with a complaint against Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) for lowering the limits on Bitcoin ATM transactions that require users to reveal their identity.
- "Anyone using a Bitcoin ATM in Switzerland must now do a KYC check – in other words, reveal their identity – if they transact more than 1,000 francs (about $1,150) over a 30-day period."
- "This is being implemented in an undemocratic way," Bity Chairman Alexis Roussel said.
“Normally, this Ordinance only applies to firms that have a license with FINMA,” Roussel said. “It doesn’t apply to companies like Bity or like Western Union or any wealth manager. But there’s a soft power system at play here which is very blurry, and whenever [FINMA] put something in their own Ordinance, all the other self-regulatory organizations have to follow this rule.”
- “The background for lowering the threshold is not only the international standards (recommendation of the FATF, the standard setter in the field of anti-money laundering, which has set the threshold of USD/EUR 1000 for virtual currencies), but also the high money laundering risks associated with such services,” FINMA said in an emailed statement."
- Roussel pointed out that the FATF, which informs regulators about things like lowering transaction thresholds for identifying people in the financial system, is “a non-democratic system that has no jurisdiction in Switzerland.”
- So far, Bity has crowdfunded over 20,000 Swiss francs to pay its legal bills. You can follow their campaign or contribute to their legal fund here.
