Finland based virtual currency provider LocalBitcoin confirmed the removal of trading in local fiat currencies in a tweet on the 4th of June.
LocalBitcoin silently removed cash trading from its platform which caused some outrage in the crypto community; the firm later stated that LocalBitcoin is liable to the obligations determined by the Act on Detecting and Preventing Money laundering and Terrorist Financing. LocalBitcoin gave reasons for taking this action in an official statement:
“In order to adapt to the current regulatory environment, we had to reconsider our policy on local cash trades as well as on geographical areas where our service is available, among other platforms features. As a consequence, advertisements in the cash category (i.e local cash trades) were disabled in our platform on Saturday before stating that LocalBitcoin is liable to the obligations determined by the Act on Detecting and Preventing Money laundering and Terrorist Financing on the 1st of June.”
This change is believed to be caused by the new legislation for crypto assets passed by the Finnish government earlier this year. LocalBitcoin will reportedly soon become monitored by the Financial Supervisory Authority of Finland.