Bottle Pay micropayment service announced closure due to inability to comply with regulatory requirements

The developer of the Bitcoin payment service Bottle Pay, the British company Block Matrix, announced that it will cease operations.The decision was made due to the inability to comply with the requirements of the Fifth EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive, effective January 10, 2020.

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The popular Bottle Pay appmade it possible to send small amounts in bitcoin on social networks and instant messengers such as Twitter and Telegram, thereby expressing gratitude to the author of the record he liked. Importantly, transactions were not subject to commissions.

However, last Friday, December 13, the developers reported that the requirements of European regulators do not allow them to conduct further activities.

“Volume and type of additional personal data,which we would have to collect from users would have such a cardically negative impact on the current user experience that we don’t want to expose our community to this ”,– says a statement from Block Matrix, which raised $2 million in investments in September.

In order to maintain its integrity as a service provider, as well as protect the interests of the team, investors and users, it was decided to completely close Bottle Pay.

At the moment, the possibility of creating newaccounts and deposits have already been deactivated, bots on social networks are also not available. Funds sent after yesterday’s statement will be returned to users within seven days. Finally, on December 31 at 13:00 GMT, the possibility of withdrawing funds will be stopped, and wallets deactivated.

The company promises to donate unclaimed funds to the Human Rights Foundation.

Fifth EU Directive

Fifth EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive(5AMLD EU) was adopted on July 9, 2018. According to it, national financial investigation authorities should be able to obtain information that allows you to associate the addresses of the virtual currency with the identity of the owner. In addition, the directive obliges national registries to disclose the beneficiaries of companies registered in EU member states and prohibits financial institutions from opening and maintaining anonymous accounts and depositories.

EU member states are required to implement the amended rules in their national laws no later than January 20, 2020.

UK is expected to publishrecommendations for cryptocurrency companies regarding 5AMLD EU, until the end of December. It is assumed that after January 10, 2020, companies working in the field of payments, storage and exchange of cryptocurrencies will have to undergo two registration procedures - to be able to work with cryptocurrencies in the legal field and to confirm compliance with the new anti-money laundering rules contained in fifth directive.