In a press release issued on their website, BitBay, one of Europe’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, announced the suspension of all company activity in Poland, and its decision to move its operations to “cryptocurrency friendly” Malta instead.
In their announcement, BitBay explained that their decision to relocate stemmed from Polish banks’ unwillingness to work with the exchange. They explained:
The activity of the BitBay exchange in Poland requires cooperation with Polish bank. Unfortunately the last Polish bank ready to provide bank services undertook unilateral decision to finish the cooperation with BitBay with the effect at the end of May. In those circumstances the continuation of providing high quality services by BitBay exchange in Poland is no longer possible.
BitBay has exercised a notice period with its customers, putting a time limit on how long they can continue to trade in Polish Zloty. After the expiration of the notice period on September 17th, 2018, trade on the BitBay exchange in Poland will be suspended, and users will only be able to withdraw funds from their accounts, without the possibility of depositing them there again.
However, BitBay is encouraging its users to continue using their services, by asking them to set up a new, Maltese BitBay account. The domain name and underpinning software of the exchange will remain the same. The press release stated:
The exchange will be conducted by the new supplier on Malta with usage of the same software as until now was used by BitBay exchange in Poland, based on the domain bitbay.net and BitBay trademark. The new supplier will be entitled to take advantage of all solutions worked out by BitBay sp. z o.o. Due to the aforementioned fact BitBay exchange on Malta will provide high quality services as BitBay in Poland so far.
The company’s decision to move to Malta is not a surprising one, and follows recent announcements of several other cryptocurrency companies’ decisions to do the same, as the country is quickly establishing itself as one of the most crypto-friendly jurisdictions in the world. A statement from BitBay read:
BitBay has been conducting analyses for many months within the scope of the most friendly jurisdiction for cryptocurrency in the European Union. Productive discussions with the government of Republic of Malta and friendly business environment provide BitBay assurance that the choice of Maltese jurisdiction is the best solution.
Corrieri Cilia is a leading law firm based in Malta specializing in the areas of international business and taxation. If you have any questions regarding blockchain or cryptocurrencies, or need assistance in this field, please contact us on [email protected] to find out how we can help you.