Derville Rowland, director general of finance conduct at Ireland’s Central Bank, is concerned about the proliferation of cryptocurrencies, according to The Independent on Monday (May 31).
She said crypto assets are “quite a speculative, unregulated investment,” and people should be aware that investors could lose their entire crypto investment because of crypto’s volatility.
Rowland, one of the top officials at the Irish financial regulator, isn’t the first to raise the alarm flag on crypto. Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has also said cryptocurrencies don’t have “any intrinsic value.”
Meanwhile, the U.K.’s Starling Bank has issued a temporary block on users sending deposits to cryptocurrency exchanges due to what Coindesk said on Monday is concerns over “high levels of suspected financial crime with such payment.”
According to a spokesperson, the block will be done away with after the additional checks have been put in place.
Users on social media have also recently complained about blocks on crypto transactions by other high-profile banks, including Barclays and online bank Monzo. Barclays said it had not put any such block, though, and Monzo didn’t comment.
In other crypto news, the Reserve Bank of India has changed its position on crypto, saying that position is “no longer valid,” a report from Bitcoin.com said on Monday.
The notice from the bank was called “Customer Due Diligence for transactions in Virtual Currencies (VC),” and it was intended for “all commercial and co-operative banks, payments banks, small finance banks, NBFCs, and payment system providers.”
It said that it had “come to our attention through media reports that certain banks/regulated entities have cautioned their customers against dealing in virtual currencies by making a reference to the RBI circular … dated April 06, 2018.” That referred to the order banning crypto.
But now, the Reserve Bank of India wants to clarify that that order has long been quashed and banks can now provide services for cryptocurrencies.
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