Central Bank of Sri Lanka warns citizens against cryptocurrencies
Amid the ongoing critical situation in Sri Lanka, because of high inflation, the Central Bank warned citizens and suggested to remain away from crypto investment.
Sri Lanka is a very small country, which depends on neighboring countries to fulfill its basic needs through cross border goods trade. Due to small areas and low population, the ups and downs of the economy of this country depend on its trade with neighboring countries. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic & unfair policies for agriculture businesses, Sri Lanka falls under a situation where people are not able to complete their basic life needs because of the high prices of goods and services.
On 12 July, The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) published its public warning for the citizens to keep away from this highly volatile market.
The issued public warning by CBSL was in response to the “recent developments about virtual currency usage.”
According to the Central Bank, cryptocurrencies are highly volatile & unregulated assets, which are issued by unregulated private companies.
CBSL took the reference of its own 2018 & 2021 position on Cryptocurrencies and confirmed that no one company or firm(s) is/was allowed or licensed to provide services associated with cryptocurrencies, so all crypto businesses are prohibited including crypto mining operations.
CBSL said:
“Virtual currencies … are considered as unregulated financial instruments and have no regulatory oversight or safeguards relating to their usage in Sri Lanka. The public is therefore warned of the possible exposure to significant financial, operational, legal and security related risks as well as customer protection concerns posed to the users by investments in VCs.”
Further CBSL also said that no one payment platform, including credit & debit card companies, is allowed to use crypto in payment systems because cryptocurrencies can’t be used as legal tender. In short, all the citizens of Srilanka are prohibited to buy cryptocurrencies via direct banking payment services.
Sri Lankan economic under turbulence
At present, Srilanka is in a very critical situation. Due to high inflation or say high prices, around 10 thousand people took to SriLankan street and broke into the Gotabaya Rajapaksa mansion in Colombo over the weekend, stealing food supplies and taking control of the structure.
This situation is showing that people don’t want any ruling government or at least the last ruling government because citizens are now very angry and it can result in a very big fight against govt and also may increase crimes.
Read also: US Securities body could tailor disclosures for crypto firms
