The Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (BCRA) said in a statement that customers of banks in the country cryptocurrency and bitcoin prohibited from mediating its use.
Argentina Central Bank De facto Bans Banks From Providing Cryptocurrency Services
Banks will not offer any digital asset-related services that are not regulated by the central bank, according to the BCRA statement. Since there are no regulated digital assets, this actually means a ban.
The statement included the following:
“The purpose of this decision taken by the board of directors of the Central Bank of Argentina is to reduce the risks that may arise for financial services users and the entire financial system as a result of transactions with these assets.”
This announcement by the country’s central bank comes days after Banco Galicia, Argentina’s largest private bank by market capitalization, announced that it would allow the trading of cryptocurrencies on its platform. In addition, this week local digital bank Brubank announced that it has started offering similar services.
As of Friday, Argentine banks will stop offering cryptocurrencies to their customers, sources said.
The country had recently entered into a debt agreement with the IMF.
In March, Argentina and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a $45 billion debt package that includes a deterrent to the use of cryptocurrencies. It is not yet clear whether the country’s debt agreement with the IMF is behind this latest ban.
Due to rising inflation in Argentina, crypto assets have been becoming more popular than ever recently.
*Not investment advice.