Spain’s central bank is once again issuing a warning on its blog: this time it says that banks can block a transfer to buy crypto under certain circumstances.
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The Bank of Spain, the country’s central bank, has been quite stern about cryptocurrencies, a position that has become increasingly firm. Its arguments are always related to the protection of users.
Both the institution and its spokespersons have expressed warnings in recent months. For example, two weeks ago, the deputy governor of the bank, Margarita Delgado reported that 12% of the adult Spanish population held cryptocurrencies, but warned that the continuous and prolonged use of them could bring different types of risks for these investors. . Earlier, the bank’s governor himself, Pablo Hernández de Cos, said that the exposure of banks to cryptocurrencies would increase their risks.
Now, a very specific warning appears on the bank’s blog: the central bank seeks to make clear the role that banks have when they are used as a means for the purchase of cryptocurrencies by transfer, and when they should prevent transactions from taking place.
The Bank of Spain’s warning
The Bank of Spain published the communiqué entitled “Banks can block a file containing information on transactions completed during a given time period. Blocks are the constituent parts of a blockchain. a transfer to buy cryptocurrencies.” which begins by explaining that there are situations in which a commercial bank must intervene in the purchase of crypto.
“There are cases when attempts to purchase cryptocurrencies on some investment platform a place to buy, sell and store cryptocurrency by sending a transfer from our bank can not be completed, because the entity has blocked the transfer of money to that platform. Why does this happen? We explain it to you”, begins the communiqué.
Explain that, “First of all, you should remember that Spanish and European financial supervisors have recently published a warning about the risks of investing in cryptoassets, in which they reiterate that they are not suitable for most retail consumers, neither as a means of payment or exchange”.
Reasons for a blockage
He reports that the reasons for a blocking of transfers to buy crypto by a bank can be:
1.- In the first place “it can happen that the bank has suspicions that identity theft with credential theft is taking place”. . He commented that in the country there are frequent cases of fraud in which fraudulent access to the accounts of the clients of an entity is produced after having stolen the client’s passwords, and that “end up in a transfer to acquire cryptocurrencies.”
Secondly, it says that it can happen that “the bank classifies this type of operation as high risk.” and decide to require additional controls, such as making a phone call or asking the customer to come to the office in person. “Among many other regulations, financial institutions are subject to the Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing. This regulation obliges them to carry out certain controls with their clients, who in turn must collaborate in their compliance”, indicates.
Informar siempre
It adds that when an institution decides to adopt a measure necessary for compliance with money laundering prevention regulations that involves restrictions on a customer’s operations, must inform you of this . “In principle, it must offer at least a generic motivation of why it adopts this measure, expressly citing the Law 10/2010, unless the entity considers that in the specific case raised there are special reasons of confidentiality for not doing so”.
Also, says the agency, “where such transaction-restrictive measures are applied, they should be applied with a degree of flexibility, taking into account an account is essentially a whose purpose is to track the financial activities of a specific asset/ the special circumstances of each individual case, for example, the client’s state of health or distance from the place of residence”.
It is worth noting that the statement is, in a way, a safeguard for those who use banks to make crypto transactions, since it is clear that they are not prohibited and are only temporarily blocked in cases of suspicion for specific situations.
Sources: Bank of Spain y archivo
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