Swiss financial regulator the Financial Market Supervisory Authority, or FINMA, has shut down the providers of a cryptocurrency known as “E-Coin,” which the regulator dubbed as “fake.”
The currency was shut down as they did not have the proper bank license. FINMA told Reuters in a statement:
This activity is similar to the deposit-taking business of a bank and is illegal unless the company in question holds the relevant financial market license.
E-Coin developers earned approximately $4.2 million (around 4 million Swiss francs) from the currency. The Swiss closure comes after a growing number of countries have expressed concerns surrounding cryptocurrencies, most notably China, which banned exchanges of bitcoin and other cryptos in the region earlier in the week.
E-Coin’s closure also comes about a week after the Swiss town Chiasso became the first town that would accept bitcoin as a way to pay one’s taxes.