Soon cryptocurrency distributors in Luxembourg?
Exchanging cash for Bitcoins, a crazy idea? Not on the German side in any case where the first cryptocurrency distributor has just been installed in Bavaria. While waiting perhaps for a similar initiative in the Grand Duchy.
The city of Ingolstadt in Bavaria: its Audi museum, its Gothic castle, its old town hall and… its cryptocurrency distributor. Operational for a few weeks, the latter, activated by the German bank Volksbank Bayern Mitte, is the property of the Austrian supplier Kurant.
How it works ?
In Ingolstadt, people wishing exchange their fiat currency for cryptocurrencies can therefore now go directly to the distributor, to slip in banknotes of 10 to 500 euros (or coins via a QR code for the destination address), for a minimum amount of 50 euros.
A novelty which clearly caught the full attention of the Luxembourg deputy Marc Goergen (Pirate party), the latter having not failed to question the Minister of Finance Yuricko Backes a few days ago on the erasure of a similar initiative in Luxembourg.
” No information yet »
In the answer she formulated on August 9, the Minister indicated that she did not have ” no information at the moment on the subject, specifying do not know ” whether banks or other regulated entities are currently considering installing such machines in Luxembourg or exclude them on principle “. No information either on the side of the ABBL, the Association of Banks and Bankers in Luxembourg.
However, if one or more specialized establishments would soon like to allow their customers to be able to exchange their coins and banknotes for cryptocurrencies, Yuricko Backes recalls that they should then ” register with the Financial Sector Supervisory Commission (the CSSF) as a provider of virtual active services. These establishments would also be subject to the amended law of 12 November 2004 against money laundering and against the financing of terrorism »
By the way, what is a cryptocurrency?
Because it is not always easy to understand, remember that a cryptocurrency is a digital currency used on the internet. Its particularity is to be independent of banking networks and to be linked to an encryption system (a blockchain).
This blockchain is a mechanism that could be likened to a register of all the transactions carried out. With its encryption system, the blockchain guarantees the reliability of transactions.
As to Bitcoinit is the first cryptocurrency to be based on a blockchain. Other virtual currencies have since appeared such as Litecoin or Namecoin. The word Bitcoin comes from English, consisting of “bit” (“binary information unit”) and “coin” (“coin”).
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