BitPay Says It Has ‘Paused’ Processing Bitcoin Payments in Germany

Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) payment processor BitPay confirmed that it suspended its operations in Germany in an email sent to Cointelegraph on Aug. 1.

BitPay: “We have paused operations in Germany”

In the aforementioned email, a BitPay PR rep. Jan Jahosky cited regulation coming into force next year in Germany as the reason why the company decided to suspend its services in the country. 

The firm added that it is currently evaluating adding support for Germany again in the future. A BitPay spokesperson told Cointelegraph: 

“Germany has publicly stated that they want crypto companies to apply for a license starting in 2020. We have paused operations in Germany while we evaluate the need for German licenses.”

German business stops accepting Bitcoin

Meanwhile, local information technology news outlet Computer Base announced earlier today that it won’t be able to offer Bitcoin as a payment method as a consequence of BitPay suspending services in the country. 

Still, the outlet also admits that most of its subscribers pay using PayPal, with some using wire transfers instead while Bitcoin does not appear to be a popular payment option. Nevertheless, self-hosted, open-source payment processor alternatives do exist such as BTCPay Server, which reduce dependency on third-party service providers. 

As Cointelegraph reported at the end of last month, starting next year, new Anti-Money Laundering regulations requiring cryptocurrency businesses to have a Federal Financial Supervisory Authority-issued license will come into effect in Germany.