The controversial decision of the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (BCRA) that prohibits banks from selling bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies has generated rejection within the sector that promotes the use of these digital assets.
One of the organizations that criticized the measure was the NGO Bitcoin Argentina. In a releasethe grouping described as “opportunistic” the reasons given for the ban.
They also maintain that the BCRA’s arguments “are not framed within the legal requirements and prohibitions of commercial banks, and represent an enslavement of their freedoms.”
They also consider that the measure further complicates the access of Argentine citizens to financial tools that protect the capital product of the effort.
By this they mean that bitcoin and cryptocurrencies can be a haven for those who want to avoid inflation. According to the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec) of Argentina, last March there was a inflation of 6.7% and an increase in consumer prices of 55% year-on-year, while accumulated inflation stood at 16%.
In this sense, the NGO recommends to the regulators that the “complete and express legalization of Bitcoin would have as a consequence both an improvement in tax collection, as well as an increase in the level of individual freedom so that those administered can save in the middle. they want.”
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A regulation stopped the proposal of banks with bitcoin
Just a week ago in Argentina an encouraging picture was seen when the banks Galicia and Brubank began to offer its customers the purchase of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. However, the plans were frustrated by the BCRA ban.
The financial regulator argued for the ban based on the regulation of “complementary services of financial activity and permitted activities”.
According to this regulation, banks “are not empowered to carry out -whatever their modality- operations outside financial intermediation” especially on “those (digital assets) whose yields are determined based on the variations that they register”, as reported by CriptoNoticias.
The prohibition of the financial entity seems to be related to the conditions established by the International Monetary Fund, to renegotiate the Argentine debt. The requirements include that the country applies greater regulations to bitcoin and discourages the use of cryptocurrenciesalthough the government denied that this was the main requirement of the agreement.