On Wednesday 13th March 2019, the Finnish Parliament has voted and approved a proposal for a new Act on Virtual Currency Service Providers and an amendment to the Act on Detecting and Preventing Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing ("AML law") that will bring virtual currency services (i.e. custodian wallet providers and exchanges) like LocalBitcoins under the AML law supervised by the Financial Supervisory Authority of Finland. The Virtual Currency Service Providers Act will come into full effect in the beginning of November 2019 creating a legal status for crypto assets, which should improve significantly Bitcoin’s standing as a viable and legit financial network.
As announced earlier, LocalBitcoins is working on improvement measures that will allow us to provide a safer and better service conforming to the regulations. On Monday 18th March, we have launched a new account registration process where users can verify basic information already during sign-up, making it easier for the newcomer to find trading partners from day 1 and increasing the number of suitable customers to advertisers as well as inhibiting the creation of illegitimate accounts.
As requested by many users, we are also currently developing a more efficient and reliable identity verification process. The new id verification system will introduce 4 individual account levels per trade and BTC transaction volume, that should increase trustworthiness and add distinction to the user profile. Corporate accounts will undergo a separate verification process. More details on each account level and verification requirements will be announced as soon as possible and we will keep you informed about all relevant changes through blog posts and/or social media updates.