Traders of the virtual currency have to face legal action
Bangladesh Bank on Monday warned the country’s financial institutions, business organisations and traders not to conduct their business by using e-currency ‘Bitcoin’ as such type of dealing is not legal. Bitcoin is an online-based virtual currency. The central bank said that if anyone uses Bitcoin in the country, he or she would have to face punishment in line with the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act 1947.
In its warning, the BB also said that the users of Bitcoin would also have to face punishment in line with Money Laundering Prevention Act 2012 as the government did not give any recognition to Bitcoin.
The BB’s warning letter said that the central bank had recently been informed that some people in the country were now purchasing Bitcoin although it is not a legal currency in any country.
A BB official told New Age on Monday that a number Bangladeshi forex traders and freelancers were now using virtual currencies like Bitcoin to get more profit.
According to Bitcoin web site, its price stood at Tk 36,554 against 1 Bitcoin on Sunday.
The value of Bitcoin highly fluctuates against the major legal currencies of different countries resulting that the users of the online-based crypto currency usually face huge risk of losing their business, he said.
The losers cannot submit their allegation to any organisation as the currency is not authorised by any legal entity, he said.
The users are dealing the e-currency by creating a network among them in different countries.
Besides, the users of the e-currency remain anonymous. So, it is easy to launder money by using Bitcoin.
The BB official said central banks of different countries including India had already issued circulars not to use Bitcoin considering fraudulent acts and risks.
The BB’s warning letter requested the common people not to use Bitcoin and its similar currencies and not to give support for expanding the use of the e-currency.
Like Bitcoin, there are lots of other such types of crypto currencies such as Litecoin, Namecoin, and Peercoin with a little difference from each other, the official said.
As Bitcoin is not backed by any government or any central bank or any enterprise, users of the currency think that they will remain out of the purview of any law against their criminal offence done using the e-currency, said another BB official.
Besides, creators of the Bitcoin claim that no central bank can control the circulation of these types of currencies, he said.
‘There is no way to find the worth of these currencies. The prices of these will keep rising as long as someone new can be convinced to buy,’ he said.
-With New Age input
