All the countries have laws regarding to financial transactions and they require a financial license for the Bitcoin exchangers. It doesn't matter if you are in USA or China.
If Bitcoin isn't defined as money in their country, exactly why would they need such a license? Bitcoin is still in the 'grey zone' for a lot of places.
sometimes i think lauda needs to step outside of the box and see the whole ecosystem.
if they are touching FIAT.. like doing bank deposits. then they need licences of the type of currency they are accepting.
EG
if it were the american dollar.. then they need american licence.
if its were a euro then they need a european licence
if however they are just swapping bitcoin for altcoins(no fiat at all). then and only then do they not need a licence.
Completely agree with that, once you start dabbling with actual currency, you'd need a license. But I don't think it's fair to assume that Lauda was ignorant about that.
Most unlicensed exchanges, if not all, are just giving bitcoin a bad name. They practice shady schemes which makes the price vulnerable for investors.
If it's an unlicensed exchange that only deals with crypto-currency, there's no problem and there's nothing wrong with that.