Estonia Cryptocurrency Company & license

Definitions

Estonian crypto license descriptions are as follows:

1. Providers of a service of exchanging a virtual currency against a fiat currency
2. Providers of a virtual currency wallet service

The first one allows you to exchange fiat to crypto and crypto to fiat. Usually, crypto to crypto transactions do not require a license.

The second license allows you to provide e-wallet services for virtual currencies. You can generate and keep encrypted keys on the behalf of the client, i.e providing custodial services of the required credentials to access the virtual currencies.

Requirements for obtaining the Estonian crypto licenses.

To obtain the Estonian crypto licenses, the AML/KYC procedural rules and internal auditing rules documentation have to be created and submitted together with the application. All shareholders, management body members and the compliance officer have to provide their non-criminal history documents (apostilled/legalised). The compliance officer has to have the university diploma, preferably in either economics, finance or law. The compliance officer also has to provide the resume/CV. As per FIU request, the compliance officer may need to travel to Estonia to do an interview with the FIU.

Time to getting licensed

The company registration time depends whether you already have an e-residency card or not. With the e-residency card, it takes 1-2 days. With the power of attorneys, it takes usually around 1,5 – 2 weeks. If you travel to Estonia, it takes few days, although the notary time has to be set at least 5 days in advance.

Once the documents are submitted to the Estonian FIU, they take up to 30 working days to process the license application and to decide whether the Estonian crypto licenses are issued to your company. If all documents are in order, the positive decision is granted.

Opening the bank account for the Estonian crypto company

Opening the bank account for companies doing business in the crypto industry is one of the most complicated issues. We’ve spent many hours identifying suitable banks, and provide 8-9 options to our clients. We can assist with the application procedures with an hourly fee, or can suggest the banking options and clients go through the on-boarding processes independently.

Taxation of crypto company in Estonia

There’s no specific tax regime for crypto companies in Estonia. Estonian company taxation system has been on the number one position for 4 years in a row on the OECD tax competitiveness index. Estonian companies have no corporate tax. Tax is only paid when profit is distributed. Profit can be distributed by paying dividends (20% tax on gross dividends) or through paying salaries (taxed in the country of residency of the recipient). Estonian VAT rate is 20%.

Our experience and expertise

Comistar has helped more than 50 companies to obtain the Estonian cryptocurrency licenses, including for clients outside of Europe (China, South-Korea, Japan, Australia, India, Canada, and Russia). We have, given talks, written books and developed applications for crypto and tokenisation industry, and have been active in that industry for several years. Comistar provides accounting for crypto companies, legal & tax advisory, as well as tech expertise via our partners.

White label crypto exchange platform

Thanks to years of operating in the blockchain industry we’ve established a large network of entrepreneurs and experts in the field. One of the partnerships we’ve developed is with a tech provider for crypto exchanges. If you don’t have your own tech solution, do not hesitate to enquire and we can connect you with the tech provider directly.