In the world of cryptocurrency, regulation will always remain a contentious topic. To a lot of people, regulating this industry serves no purpose other than to prevent innovation from happening. Others see it as a way to pave a more legitimate ecosystem. In Kazakhstan, it appears the country’s national bank wants to ensure that all cryptocurrency activity is forbidden in the future.
Kazakhstan National Bank Refutes Bitcoin
Anyone who has paid close attention to the various countries trying to regulate Bitcoin and altcoins may have noticed that a negative attitude still reigns supreme. For some reason, a lot of officials have not taken too kindly to cryptocurrencies, and it seems that sentiment will eventually herald some regulatory changes with which most people will not be too pleased.
If the National Bank of Kazakhstan is to be believed, the country will prohibit all use of cryptocurrency. More specifically, the National Bank wants to ban the exchange, use, and trade of cryptocurrency in the near future. It is quite interesting to note that the concept of mining cryptocurrency is not mentioned, although it seems that activity will not be allowed either.
Kazakhstan’s national bank chairman Daniyar Akishev claims:
In Kazakhstan, the National Bank is taking 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.
Enforcing this new rule will not be easy by any means. It is certainly true the use of cryptocurrencies brings forth a whole new set of issues and risks. The unwillingness to do something constructive about these challenges speaks volumes. Other countries seemingly have no problems addressing cryptocurrency in a mature and professional manner.
Kazakhstan is setting a very troublesome precedent in this light, assuming its approach is turned into law eventually. For the time being, the National Bank seems to be alone in its extremely aggressive stance toward Bitcoin and similar currencies. Even central banks can’t control cryptocurrencies, for obvious reasons.
For the time being, we will have to wait and see how this situation evolves. It is understandable that Kazakhstan’s national bank doesn’t take kindly to exchanges between cryptocurrency and the national currency. China doesn’t either, and it suspended all CNY trading until further notice. A similar measure may very well be introduced in Kazakhstan in the future. Even so, consumers will quickly find a way to bypass these artificial walls.
