Bitcoin broker Prasos is licensed as a payment organization in the EU

Prasos, a bitcoin broker based in Finland, announced it has obtained a license from a payment organization, which will enable it to offer additional payment services in fiat currencies both for users of its Coinmotion platform and in other countries of the European Economic Area (EEA).

As emphasized in the statement of Prasos, the company has become the only third organization in Europe that has received such a license.

Big news! @prasosltd has received payment institution license. This is a license in Europe. The license was granted by the Finnish FSA. https://t.co/1NZ2pskuYN

– Henry Brade ⚡ (@ Technom4ge) July 12, 2019

The license was issued by the Finnish Financial and Budget Supervision Service.

“The process of obtaining a license took us almost a year and a half, and during this time, European legislation has become more understandable. We worked a lot on the development of our business, and I am very happy that we have come to this moment and received a license from a payment organization, ”said Prasos CEO Heidi Hurskainen.

In March 2018, Prasos announced that four Finnish banks had immediately closed down the company's accounts and refused to cooperate further, fearing a potential violation of AML legislation. After that, Prasos was left with only one banking partner and did not rule out that his entire business would be frozen.

The obtained license will allow the company to conduct more productive cooperation with financial institutions. In addition, Prasos intends to register as a virtual services operator in accordance with the EU Fifth Directive on combating money laundering and terrorist financing, which entered into force in Finland on 1 May 2019.

“We believe that in the following years the cryptocurrency sector will become more mainstream, and the license obtained is a strategically very important achievement for us. This is the first step towards creating new products for investors, which improves our position in the European market and supports wider cooperation with financial operators , ”added the head of the company.

Recall, Prasos announced the purchase of the Coinmotion cryptocurrency exchange in February 2016. The company also owns another Bittiraha.fi and Bittimaatti's Bitcoin-ATM network operating in Finland.