Austrian Regulator Freezes Crypto Mining Firm Amid Investigation
The tension between countries’ regulatory agents and cryptocurrency platforms seems to not only continue, bot to increase as well. The latest country to take action is Austria. The country’s Financial Market Authority has denied a cryptocurrency mining firm from operating amid allegations that the company has violated Austria’s banking laws.
According to the regulator’s most recent announcement on Tuesday, it has “prohibited the business model of INVIA GmbH” a mining firm, for the unauthorized Alternative Investment Fund violation. The fund apparently violated the Austria Banking Act and accordingly, regulators have started a full investigation into the company to determine the extent of the violation.
INVIA World, a parent company to INVIA GmbH, stated that it mines the most profitable cryptocurrency using a proprietary algorithm. Thereafter, the mined tokens are converted to bitcoin or ethereum, which are then paid to investors.
FMA’s most recent release stated that INVIA failed to register with regulators and as a result, it does not have the necessary authorization to offer financial products, including alternative investment funds. This move is one of the first in almost a year that Austrian authorities have warned a platform to stop its operations.
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