Two of Argentina’s largest banks opened up to crypto trading only four days ago but now the central bank has stepped in to block the offerings of crypto
The central bank of Argentina (BCRA) has put a restrain on the financial institutions offering crypto trading after two of the country’s largest banks signaled they were opening up to digital assets.
On May 5 the BCRA said the move was to lessen the risks crypto poses to users and “to the financial system as a whole” stating crypto’s high volatility, use in money laundering and absence of regulatory safeguards.
The news came in from an announcement on Monday from two of the countries largest banks, Banco Galicia and Brubank, that they would allow their customers to purchase Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), USD Coin (USDC) and Ripple (XRP).
This decision was a result of a poll conducted to open up to crypto trading by Banco Galicia where 60% of their respondents said they wanted easier access to digital currencies.
However, The central bank has long taken a hazy view of crypto, issuing a notice to the public in May last year on the risks, warning once again of concerns around volatility and money laundering despite the bank saying there were not yet signs of “significant levels of acceptance and use.”
At the time of writing figures from data analysis form Statista, 21% of respondents in Argentina had owned or used crypto in 2021 marking the sixth-highest rate of adoption in the world and the highest rate in the Americas.
Argentina’s inflation rose another 6.7% in March — the highest rate in 20 years — to hit 55.1% year-over-year according to INDEC, the countries’ statistics agency. Some Argentinians have turned to crypto in an attempt to reduce spiking inflation. In April one rural town in Argentina started the process of mining cryptocurrency to fight inflation.
