Central has decided that banks will not be able to offer cryptocurrencies to their clients

Later this week, two private banks pioneered the local financial system by starting with offer cryptocurrencies to your customersthe Central Bank’s board of directors announced that it would be forced to freeze the operations of these entities.

After its regular meeting every Thursday, the body headed by Miguel Pesce issued a statement in which it stressed that “Financial entities they may not perform or facilitate their clients to conduct operations using digital assetsincluding crypto assets and those whose yields are determined based on the variations they have registered, which are not regulated by a national authority and authorized by the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (BCRA). “

The decision will be made official in a rule to be released late this Thursday or early Friday. The financial authority justified itself by saying that this measure “seeks to mitigate the risks associated with operations on these assets that they may generate for users of financial services and for the system. finance as a whole. “

On Monday, Banco Galicia, Argentina’s largest national capital private bank, and Brubank, a 100% digital entity with 2.5 million users in the country, launched the possibility for their clients to buy cryptocurrencies from their platforms. In both cases the service is offered by a third party.

This is the crypto platform Lirium, a company that offers banks a “closed model” for buying and selling cryptocurrencies, supported by regulation in Liechtenstein, one of the European countries with the most advanced regulation of crypto in the world. . Lirium protects the crypto purchased by the customers of these banks and the operation is done only in pesos.

Thus, entities were able to overcome one of the major barriers they encountered to offer this type of service to their clients within the framework of an ultra-reinforced exchange trap. However, the Central Bank will force them to withdraw. Banking sources explained in this newspaper that they have not been alerted about this decision and that they will work hard to see what the scope of the proposal is.

Consulted by Clarín about how to repay those who have already bought cryptocurrencies from banks these days, sources from Central responded that each entity must decide how to respond to its clients.

The agency stressed that the activity of financial entities should be aimed at funding the investment, production, marketing, consumption of goods and services required by both domestic demand and exports.

The various actors involved in operations with these assets may not be established in the country, which may generate deviations from general regulations, considering the BCRA.

Although virtual wallets, such as Buenbit, Ripio and Lemon, have not yet reached this standard in the financial system, it is speculated that the National Securities Commission (CNV) will soon move forward with a similar approach to limit operations by brokerage firms. . Sources from the body led by Adrián Cosentino said “nothing has been resolved in the matter.”

In May 2021, the Central Bank of the Republic of Argentina and the National Securities Commission (CNV) posted an alert to provide information on the possible implications and risks that crypto assets may include, as well as to recommend a cautious attitude to minimize possible sources of vulnerability for users and investors.

After learning of the initiative of these two private banks to offer their clients the possibility to buy four different cryptocurrencies, the agency came out to clarify that it maintained the same position last year. “

“Crypto assets present challenges for their users, investors and for the financial system as a whole. The speed of developments and the growing interest in them are necessary to adopt a precaution. attitude, ”the agency published Wednesday on its official Twitter account. Twitter.