For money laundering,MFS gets the blame, |
The ban came in the wake of a police investigation that claimed TK 750 billion were laundered abroad in the last ten years through MFS and commercial banks. And in the last one year TK 250 billion were smuggled out of the country through MFS,which plays a crucial role in digital inclusion of the mass.
In recent years,e-commerce platforms came under intense criticism following a series of scams in the e-commerce sector.Many crooked e-commerce platforms swindled clients' money. Recently row over ownership of a newly launched MFS platform between a company and Bangladesh Post Office called into question objectives of such platforms.However, it did not bar people from subscribing to such platforms and do transaction. The same platform is the object of a fresh debate after it failed to repay part of a loan to a commercial bank as it lacks enough money to pay back the loan.
I do not think it is quite right to put the blame squarely on MFS operators for all the wrongdoings. Some crooked owners and clients are mostly behind in this kind of debate.
There is no doubt that some bad quarters use bit coin to do illicit transaction.But there is no point to get strict with MFS operators. And government does not have mechanism to stop such transactions. Country like El Salvador, where organized criminal groups hold sway over govt,only legalized bitcoin. But it does not mean bitcoin in general is associated with all the bad things. If proper law and other international regulations are put in place,bitcoin could be used to use as a tender in doing transaction with countries that are forced to quit international payment platforms like SWIFT. Particularly true for countries which have obligations to pay loan instalment but cannot do because of sanctions on creditor country.
But it is unsafe and risky in doing transaction in bitcoin as most of the countries do not recognize it and there are inadequate laws and regulations for its governance.However, govt can allow setting up facilities for bitcoin mining for other countries. In Kazakhstan, a Chinese company set up such a facility and paid the govt fees. It stores virtual currency related data. Such facility consumes a lot of electricity2.
Recently, a Chinese company approached Dhaka North City Corporation and offered to invest in setting up a power plant producing electricity from garbage. The Company will do all the investment and DNCC has to purchase the electricity at a predetermined price3. Few megawatts of electricity do not call for such proposal.
Currently we have many rental and captive power plants for industrial use. I fear many such plants may be used for bitcoin mining operations. When you are producing RMG items or other industrial items ,price of electricity could play a role in fixing the price of good in a bid to maintain competitive edge. But when you are clandestinely operating such facility you are doing great disservice to subsidized electricity. Electricity bill for such mining facility should not be same as those for an industrial unit.Govt is also deprived of vital revenue. If govt allows such facility,govt will get regular revenue and higher prices for electricity.
This should also be applicable for individuals who operate such facility at micro level.
Central bank did the right thing by banning the bitcoin. But MFS operators are not part of the problems when millions of people do transactions worth billions of Taka daily. Rather,they have to be consulted to devise a durable mean to reduce incidence of money laundering.
Notes And References:
- "Bangladesh Bank Warns Against Accepting Export Proceeds In And Buying Cryptocurrency",bdnews24.com,September 15,2022. For more read at https://tinyurl.com/4b7tfz7h
- "China Crypto Miners Turn To Kazakhstan ",Forkast News. For more see at https://tinyurl.com/bdfvkjvc
- "Waste To Electricity:China To Build Powerplant For DNCC Areas", Rejaul Karim Byron and Helemul Alam,Daily Star,November 13,2020. For more read at https://tinyurl.com/bdezjc3h
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