According to the publication E24, Norwegian Bitmynt AS crypto currency exchange has lost the trial of a major Scandinavian company Nordea engaged in the provision of financial services. The reason for the lawsuit was the fact that Nordea has closed the accounts of the exchange Bitmynt.

The founder of the exchange Sturle Sunde filed a lawsuit against Nordea in December last year, when Nordea closed the account Bitmynt because of concerns related to inadequate measures to combat money-laundering risk and the financing of terrorism.

“Globally, the court examined the question and has no doubt that bitcoin trading increases the risk of money laundering and transactions related to criminal activities, although bitcoin trading now takes place on the whole within the law”, – reads the decree of the district court of Oslo.

In addition, according to the court, based on the provisions of the Act on financial contracts, “this risk has become an objective reason why the Bank has terminated the relationship with the client.” Sunde said that he was disappointed by the decision of the court and that the judicial verdict, in fact, generally prohibits trading bitcoins in Norway. He also insists that the exchange did not violate any laws, and plans to appeal.

The court especially was critical of the security measures of the exchange, stressing that they are mostly implemented manually by Sunde. According to the verdict, “he thinks he knows his customers and has a flair that allows it to identify suspicious activity.” Ultimately, the court ruled that the security measures, consisting in the intuition Sunde, contacts with customers and the use of browser wallets are not effective enough to eliminate risks, and therefore do not reach the level that would be acceptable to the Bank.

According to Sunde, the cost of the trial was significant – he spent a trial of 1 million Norwegian kroons (124 thousand dollars). He also noted that it plans to raise money for the appeal with the help of crowdfunding. To the question, was it worth the court such money, he replied:
“At the moment no, but I hope that it will end.”

Source