In Lithuania, The Financial Crime Investigation Service (FCIS) conducted a seminar, considering the “threats and potential benefits” of Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) to the country’s economy.
The seminar was held in the presence of representatives from government ministries, the central bank, and the General Prosecutor.
On that note, Antonio Mikulsk, the head of the FCIS, expressed “ Virtual currency has huge cash flows, but (there are) worries about converting them into dollars and euros as quickly as possible, (and) leaving virtual currencies as quickly as possible.”
With this, the meeting also declared that, Lithuanian processes ‘huge’ turnover from crypto to fiat. The authorities are marking that the ICO requires more robust anti-fraud mechanisms. Notably, ICO turnover volume is as high as €500 million (about $576 million) over the past eighteen months.
Here, FCIS deputy director Mindaugas Petrauskas stated that “According to ICO figures, Lithuania is one of the world leaders and shows the highest, 305 percent, growth from all over the world”.
Amid this, Lithuania has affirmed to build a formalized regulatory environment for cryptocurrency and related products, considering the potential benefits from embracing a proactive approach to the industry.
At the same time, The FCIS is reviewing banks capacity regarding processing high-volume crypto-to-fiat transactions emerged from exchanges, marking that any single transaction over €80,000 (about $92,200) must be inspected, says reports.
Reportedly, the summation of crypto exchange transactions from 2017 to 2018 amounts €661 million (approx $762 million) at the time the data published. Many, regional banks are covered in the investigation, including SEB Bank, Swedbank, and Danske Bank.
Petrauskas further added regarding the €80,000 threshold, “Such a sum already causes a certain suspicion”, the sum involves around 500 individuals and 100 business entities.