Cuba regulates the use of virtual assets for commercial transactions

In a resolution, the Cuban Central Bank also stipulated rules for granting licenses to institutions handling cryptocurrencies.

Cuba’s Central Bank issued a resolution establishing rules to regulate the use of virtual assets in commercial transactions and licensing of service providers in that sector.

In a resolution published Thursday, the Cuban Central Bank (BCC) said it may authorize, for reasons of socioeconomic interest, the use of certain virtual assets in commercial transactions and license virtual asset service providers for operations related to financial, exchange and collection or payment activities.

According to the BCC, “financial institutions and other legal entities may only use virtual assets among themselves and with natural persons to carry out monetary and mercantile operations, and exchange and swap transactions, as well as to satisfy pecuniary obligations.” All of the above may be done if authorized by the Central Bank, it added.

The entity detailed that a virtual asset is understood as “the digital representation of value that can be traded or transferred digitally and used for payments or investments.”

The BCC also clarified that “persons assume the civil and criminal risks and liabilities derived from operating with virtual assets and service providers that operate outside the banking and financial system, even though transactions with virtual assets between these persons are not prohibited.”

On the other hand, the resolution stipulated that government administration agencies must refrain from using virtual assets in transactions, except in cases authorized by the Central Bank of Cuba.

According to the BCC, even when such virtual assets and the providers of such services operate outside the banking and financial system, their management implies risks for monetary policy and financial stability, due to the high volatility that characterizes them and their use in data networks in cyberspace.

The BCC also said that cryptocurrencies imply risks of being used to finance criminal activities, given the excessive anonymity of the users registered in such networks and of the transactions derived from their use.