Central Bank Of Argentina Prohibits Using Credit Cards To Buy BTC

Central Bank of Argentina announced a new decision that the citizens are prohibited from using their credit cards to purchase Bitcoin (BTC) or other cryptocurrencies so we are reading further in the bitcoin news.

After imposing major limits on the US Dollar purchases, now, the Central Bank of Argentina decided to ban the usage of credit cards when buying bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies. The measures were published in the public in a communication covering multiple industries in which credit card use was prohibited or limited. The section referring to cryptocurrency explains:

 “Acquisition of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies: It is prohibited to purchase BTC with this payment method. The only remaining alternative for this investment is to do so with funds transferred from a bank account.”

It is unclear whether the rules apply only to credit cards or debit cards and prepaid cards as well. The BCA explained that these measures are critical to preserving the foreign exchange reserves of the country. According to the experts, the central bank wants to block the entry of dollars in the country and they want to have a stronger exchange control.

The decision is a move by the BCA earlier this week after the limited amount of US Dollars so the people of the country could buy each month. The maximum amount was reduced from $10,000 to $200. At the time, the decision caused a spike in BTC trading.

These events brought a lot of bad press and traders and investors felt like cryptocurrencies are very difficult to transfer to a fiat currency. Exchanges have daily limits and every user could use their credit card and fund their account for approximately 500 pounds a day. Banks are using the excuse that because of the high volatility and money laundering related to cryptocurrencies, they decided to stop using them.

Banks are doing this because as they say, the source of the funds can’t really be verified. Many believe that that is just a cover and that the banks just don’t know how to transfer that into their accounts. Banks worry that many people will borrow money from them and then just be stuck in debt because of the extremely fluctuating price of Bitcoin.