German Regulator Seizes Crypto ATMs
Germanyâs financial regulator BaFin is seizing bitcoin ATMs run by âShitcoins Clubâ months after ordering its Polish operator to cease trading crypto in the country.
- On Wednesday, authorities began shuttering âShitcoins Clubâ storefronts and seizing its bitcoin ATM machinery, a BaFin official confirmed with CoinDesk, for allegedly operating without banking or proprietary trading licenses.
- BaFin ordered Shitcoinsâ parent company KKT UG to cease all German crypto trading operations in February. But CEO Adam Gramowski flaunted regulatorsâ demands and kept his kiosks running, according tofinancial newssite Handelsblatt. Gramowski did not immediately respond to a CoinDesk request for comment.
- The action will likely take a substantial portion of Germanyâs crypto ATMs offline. Shitcoins Club has around 17 bitcoin, litecoin and ether ATMs in the country; Germany as a whole has only 67 operational bitcoin ATMs.
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