The Kazakh National Bank is considering a ban on any exchange of the national currency, the tenge, for digital coins, as well as any cryptocurrency mining operations, according to the bank’s governor Akishev Talgatovich.
“In Kazakhstan, the National Bank is taking a very conservative approach toward the matter, and it welcomes nothing but extremely tough restrictions. Therefore, we want to ban the exchange of digital currencies for the national currency. We want to prohibit the stock exchange’s activities in this area, as well as every type of mining,” he told Russian state-owned news agency Sputnik.
Talgatovich’s view is based on the premise that cryptocurrencies do not sufficiently protect investors.
He said “no central bank has all the instruments to control this market in the cross-border market,” making it impossible to mitigate any negative consequences for the tenge.
Talgatovich also insisted that cryptocurrencies are primarily used for illegal activities such as money laundering and tax evasion, saying that most of Kazakhstan’s government institutions approve of the idea of banning cryptocurrencies.
In October, Talgatovich warned that when the cryptocurrency bubble pops, citizens will blame the government for not doing anything about the situation. At a press conference in capital Astana, the National Bank chief aired his concerns over the speculative nature of cryptocurrencies and urged the government to warn citizens about possible losses.
During the Astana Economic Forum in 2017, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev did not speak out against cryptocurrencies, choosing instead to propose a global monetary platform based on them. He argued this would put a stop to many of the adverse effects suffered by numerous national currencies.
The fact that a ban in Kazakhstan has not yet materialized might be an indication of some opposition to Talgatovich’s proposal, particularly from the executive branch of the country’s government.
This article appeared first on Cryptovest
