Sursa foto: Inquam Photos Octav Ganea
The National Bank of Romania (BNR) announces, for the first time, that the current national and European rules allow commercial banks to work with cryptocurrency exchanges and digital wallet issuers, as long as they apply measures for the identification of their customers, as well as risk management measures in the area of money laundering and terrorism financing.
Thus the BNR becomes one of the first central banks in the EU to admit that commercial banks can work with this type of provider, despite warning that virtual currencies (cryptocurrencies) are “volatile and extremely risky speculative assets”, adding that they “have a high potential to generate financial losses for investors.”
Despite these warnings, the Central Bank points out that “the manifestation of risks specific to the holding and trading of virtual currencies and the significant volatility of the price of traded virtual currencies do not currently pose a threat to the financial stability of Romania.”
Recomandări Video
Articolul continuă mai jos
The BNR’s reaction comes just one day after the New York Stock Exchange recorded a historic premiere: the listing of the first cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, which at the end of the trading session reached a market value of $85.5 billion.
On the other hand, the Central Bank also points out that exchanges and service providers of digital wallets have to comply, starting with July 15, 2020, with Law no. 129/2019 for the prevention and combating of money laundering and terrorism financing.