Argentina's central bank cracked down on cryptocurrency on Thursday, banning financial institutions from providing customers with any operations involving unregulated digital assets Argentina's central bank has banned banks from allowing customers to buy cryptocurrency this year. The ban also includes assets whose returns are determined by the fluctuation of cryptocurrency.
Just a few days ago, two large financial institutions in Argentina announced that they would allow customers to buy bitcoin and other digital currencies.
Argentines are rapidly accepting cryptocurrencies as recurrent currency crises and inflation of more than 50 per cent a year erode the value of their savings. According to the data of blockchain website chainalysis, Argentina is one of the 10 countries with the highest usage of cryptocurrency in the world.
Earlier this week, Banco Galicia and brubank, the country's largest private bank by market value, announced that they would allow customers to buy cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, ether and usdc.
However, according to the measures announced on Thursday, the Argentine central bank banned the entire financial industry from such operations, saying its purpose was to "reduce" the "risk" in digital asset trading. These risks include high volatility, cyber attacks and money laundering.
The Central Bank of Argentina added that financial institutions should focus on "investment, production and consumption financing of goods and services".