Chile’s anti-monopoly court recently ordered two major Chilean banks to re-open the accounts of one of the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Buda.
The country’s anti-monopoly court ruled that the state bank Banco del Estado de Chile and Itau Corpbanca should re-open the cryptocurrency exchange’s accounts, presumably to prevent what looked like a blanket ban on cryptocurrencies in the country, according to a Bloomberg report.
Buda’s lawsuit continues against 10 Chilean banks, including the two ordered to re-open its accounts. The exchange sued the banks after its accounts were closed in a move it dubbed “arbitrary” and “unjustified.”
As covered by CCN, Chile’s cryptocurrency exchanged Buda, Crypto MKT, and Orionx saw the country’s banks shut down their accounts with no proper explanation earlier this month. At the time, Banco Estado revealed it decided “not operate with companies that are dedicated to the issuance or creation, brokerage, intermediation or serve as a platform for the so-called cryptocurrencies.”
In response, the cryptocurrency exchanges decided to take the case to an appeals court, a move that, taking Buda’s success into account, may pay off for the exchanges. At press time, Crypto MKT and Orionx presumably still have their accounts closed.
Reports have suggested Chile’s financial institutions are seemingly implementing a ban on the crypto industry. Guillermo Torrealba, Buda’s chief executive officer, was clear on his stance:
“They’re killing an entire industry. It won’t be possible to buy and sell crypto in a safe business in Chile. We’ll have to go back five years and trade in person. It seems very arbitrary.”
Some believe the blanket ban is coming from the Chilean government, as the country’s Financial Stability Council, an organization with representatives from the country’s central bank, the Finance Ministry, and the securities, banks, and pension funds regulator, issued a warning on cryptocurrencies on April 5 – shortly before banks started shutting down exchanges’ accounts.
On March 27, Itau Corpbanca’s chief executive officer Milton Maluhv claimed the bank supports startups and new technologies while arguing cryptocurrencies need more regulations. When reached out to, other financial institutions didn’t reply.
As covered, Crypto MKT has revealed that it was left without banking after Banco Estado shuttered its account. Orionx, on the other hand, claimed users’ funds were “fully backed” and that there was “no risk of insolvency.”
Featured image from Shutterstock.
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