On Tuesday, 12th July, The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) went on to publish a notice. CBSL notice titled as Public Awareness in Relation to the Use of Virtual Currencies in Sri Lanka – outlined concerns about cryptocurrency usage inside the country. It’s noteworthy that Sri Lanka is going through a drastic political crisis that resulted in massive economic turmoil.
CBSL noted the development took place recently related to usage of virtual currencies both in domestic and international trade. Further, it also cited the inquiries on digital assets. The notice mentioned that the cryptocurrencies are by far unregulated yet digital forms of value that private entities issued and they are also eligible to be traded electronically.
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka highlighted that the regulatory authority had neither given any license nor authorized any company or entity that was involved in operations related to any virtual currencies including cryptocurrencies. They also added that no authorization for initial coin offerings (ICO), crypto exchanges or mining operations was passed anytime recently.
While adding to its warning related to debit and credit cards like Electronic Fund Transfer Cards, CBSL stated that these EFTCs are also prohibited to use in order to make payments while making transactions related to buy or invest virtual currencies. The Central Bank clarified that virtual currencies are to be seen as unregulated financial instruments since they do not fall under any regulatory guardrails and may not be safe to use in Sri Lanka.
At the end while concluding its notice, the Central Bank noted that warnings are issued for the general public regarding any possibility of exposure towards the risks in investments in Virtual Currencies. This includes different financial, legal, operational and security concerns for customer protection. Moreover, theyalso said that the public would also need to ensure not to become victims of any type schemes revolving around virtual currencies.
It’s noteworthy that currently the country is facing heavy economic turbulence due to political instability. On Wednesday, 13th July, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa left the country amid the crisis. Many citizens blamed Rajpaksa for the economic crisis that Sri Lank is going through.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/07/17/what-crypto-warnings-central-bank-of-sri-lanka-issued-amid-political-tremble/