Gibraltar - up to £30,000
Malta - up to £24,000
These fees have historically put fly by night companies off, perhaps places with stricter controls will help in the long term . I hope so
Man it's ridiculous how low Estonia's still is in comparison. It's also pretty funny seeing Malta's that high, considering its marketing image of Blockchain Island. Either way, this might be the reason why they increased their fees:
So far, the FIU dropped the hammer largely on crypto firms that failed to start operations in Estonia within six months of getting a permit, Bloomberg reported, quoting Madis Reimand, who heads the Baltic country’s intelligence unit.
Some firms could be getting permits and using those to add some legitimacy in their operations, even without directly being based in Estonia.
It's also worth noting that the banking scandal OP mentioned triggered this change, not any of the crypto companies registered. Bankers and ruining crypto often seems to go hand in hand lol.