The legality of starting a Bitcoin business in Europe

[supercaz]

Hey Everyone, I would love some help if anyone has any experience or knowledge on this topic.

I'm part of a relatively small Bitcoin exchange/brokerage business and we are looking to expand into Europe.

What we are really wanting to know is if there are any regulations or legal hurdles we have to overcome to be able to do this.

For example,

- Can we treat Europe as one territory with the same rules/regulations? Or do we have to do it country by country?

- Do we have to register as some financial entity?

- Do we have to report to any governing body?

We are trying to avoid paying 20k in lawyer fees to find this out so i'm hoping the community here can shed some light on this?

Thanks!

[gentlemand]

This is an interesting question.

Bitstamp claim they're regulated across Europe with this - https://www.bitstamp.net/payment-institution-license/

Which I've never heard of anywhere else. Ever.

EU should be harmonised but the demise of Localbitcoins in Germany only suggests that might not be the case.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=886598.0;all

Kraken operates everywhere but it also seems they don't give much of a shit about regulation. Maybe you should contact the main EU operations like bitonic.nl and bitcoin.de and ask them.

[countryfree]

The whole of Europe is awfully regulated regarding anything financial. Luxembourg is probably the best place to register your company, but don't expect to do it on a budget.