The iGaming industry in Norway is thriving these days. People often take part in gambling-related activities because Norway is one of the countries which have the strictest gambling regulations, meaning that playing there is safe and customers are guaranteed to have their personal information and money protected.

Gambling in Norway is regulated by the two major companies, Norsk Rikstoto and Norsk Tipping and they try their best to make the iGaming scene safe for their citizens and protect them from monetary losses. As a result of these strict gambling policies, the iGaming industry in Norway makes a huge part of the country’s revenue and plays an important role in the growth of Norway’s economy.

But people who take part in the gambling sector, don’t really like this kind of control from the government. There are many types of activities that are considered illegal in Norway, which means Norwegians are restricted to have access to many forms of gambling activities and have limited choice to satisfy their needs. This is the reason why they often try to register on offshore gambling websites and enjoy their desired games using sites of different countries. For doing this, they often use cryptocurrencies.

Are cryptos legal in Norway?

Nowadays cryptocurrencies are legal in Norway and especially, Bitcoin is widely used in the country’s taxation system. Technology in Norway is highly developed and because of the liberal market, the country is a blockchain startup-welcoming place. However, people who actively take part in the Norwegian gambling industry, find it uncomfortable to be controlled by the government all the time.

They can’t provide gambling services without the permission of the government which often causes a lot of problems. Because gambling is considered illegal in most parts of the country, people have been using crypto as a tool to avoid government surveillance and records on banks that they were gambling online.

Based on the information gathered from this source, cryptos are some of the most common means of exchange used in the Norwegian online gambling scene. Since most of these actions are technically illegal due to the regulation, the players have to do whatever they can to avoid being spotted.

For avoiding government surveillance using cryptos is the best option because transactions in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are mostly confidential, meaning that it’s hard for the government to detect your personal information if you conducted some actions illegally. This often happens when people use offshore websites that accept cryptocurrencies.

Besides, surprisingly, the most mind-blowing thing is that even if they are spotted, the regulation does not consider charges for the player, it only charges the service provider. So these people are trying to keep that particular platform a secret in some way. Therefore, using cryptos is very profitable for the players in Norway which makes it one of the most frequently used currencies by the gambling society of the country.

New rules for Crypto providers

It has been reported that the number of people involved in the iGaming industry of Norway has risen and problem gambling has affected more people this year than before. One of the reasons for this is probably the coronavirus outbreak. During the quarantine period, casinos and other entertainment establishments in the country had been shut down, but online casinos continued to function. As it was a pretty convenient way to spend free time and entertain in the middle of the Covid-19i crisis, the number of people taking part in the online gambling industry increased.

Because of the increased number of gambling-related problems, the government decided to make its gambling policies even stricter. In fact, according to the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway now the country is going to make new money laundering policies that apply to cryptocurrencies exchange and its service providers in Norway.

The new law will affect both the companies which are established in the country, as well as their overseas branches. The main purpose of this change is to ensure that the digital currency exchange process and crypto storage providers will obey the money-laundering rules. However, the Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA), doesn’t change any other rules connected with other areas of these providers, such as investor protection.

Impact on crypto providers

New Money Laundering Act is designed only for crypto storage services and providers which usually offer exchange services between the national currency, krone, and various types of cryptos like bitcoin. According to the regulator, the new regulations apply to everyone who is taking part in the transfer, storage, or purchase of virtual currencies. But non-custodial wallets that don’t store private crypto keys are excluded from the new law.

However, the new regulation doesn’t touch the people who just use cryptocurrencies for private purposes and occasional money transfers for buying and selling virtual currencies. Though it will be necessary for them to indicate the purpose of their transactions and the origins of funds.