BitPay Stops Working in Germany Because of the new Rules BaFin

Residents of Germany will no longer be able to use the services of the BitPay cryptocurrency payments operator in connection with the new rules of the Federal Agency for Financial Supervision of Germany (BaFin).

From January 1, 2020, new rules come into force in Germany that make the work of a company in the country impossible. This Thursday BitPay updated the record that lists countries that the company will not serve. Now the record says:

“Currently, BitPay cannot serve merchants or users from the following countries: Algeria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Cambodia, Ecuador, Egypt, Germany, Indonesia, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Nepal and Vietnam.”

BitPay spokesman Jan Jahosky said that the regulation, which will take effect in 2020, was the main reason the company decided to stop providing services in Germany. At the same time, Yakhoski noted that BitPay hopes to return to Germany in the future:

“Germany has publicly stated that cryptocurrency companies must obtain a license to work from 2020 onwards. We have suspended work in Germany, and so far we are assessing the requirements and the expediency of obtaining German licenses. ”

It is expected that the new rules will negatively affect the business associated with cryptocurrency payments. Thus, the Computer Base news publication announced that it would no longer offer Bitcoin as a payment method, which was a direct result of the suspension of BitPay payment services in Germany.

Despite the tightening of regulation of cryptocurrency companies in Germany, the country is still taking steps towards new technologies. Fundament blockchain startup has recently received permission from BaFin to issue the first tokenized secured real estate bond.