Series of arrests were made abroad Last week authorities across the world took severe actions against cryptocurrency fraud. In Bahama,Police arrested FTX owner Sam Bankman-Fried 1.Billions dollar worth of FTX crumbled and ruined thousands of investors. Another South Korean fled to Serbia after he had failed to pay the investors their due share2. Currency he introduced now worth $0.01. Authorities in Hong Kong alerted people investing in cryptocurrency as it poses huge risk. This latest development reduced the trust on bitcoin to zero. Very few will interested to invest here in future. Back in September Bangladesh Bank issued circular banning bitcoin in Bangladesh. Credit cards issued by local banks and Mobile Financial Services(MFS) are being used to do transaction in bitcoin,as noted by Bangladesh Bank. Citing Foreign Exchange Regulations Act 1947,the central bank underscored except fiat money transaction in other unregulated currency is illegal3. The decision was taken in the wake of a police investigation that claimed that Tk 75000 crores were laundered abroad and Tk 25000 crores were smuggled out of the country in the span of one year,using MFS platforms,which play a crucial role in digital inclusion. What was worrying back then is that many exporters used crypto money to take orders and paid the bills for ingredients in crypto, as noted the central bank. As one after another cryptocurrency went bankrupt, the issue here is that how many of our exporters have lost their money in crypto trade. Central bank needs to divulge the matter to the press. Another thing to note is that how many of these exporters took loans from local and foreign banks. The loans ,needless to say,turn into bad loans,causing further woes to ailing banks. Back in September in my piece “Bangladesh Bans Bitcoin”4,I speculated that in Bangladesh, we have many rental power plants as well as captive power plants for industrial use. I fear many such plants may be used to bit mining operations. When you are producing RMG items or other industrial articles, price of electricity could play a role in fixing the price to maintain the competitive edge. But when you clandestinely operate such facility you are doing a great disservice to subsidized electricity. Electricity bill for such mining facility should not be same as that for industrial unit. Govt is also deprived of vital revenue. If govt allows such facility govt will get much needed revenue and higher price for electricity. This should be applicable for individuals who operate such facility at miniscule level. As grey practices creep into our vernacular conducts, paying export proceeds in bitcoin is the latest addition. Earlier collapse of e-commerce industry has made destitute thousands of people. Transaction without cash receipt has become the new norm. The kind of digital Bangladesh is unfolding is adding woes to daily lives instead of making it easier, raising out of pocket expenditure instead of reducing it and full of illicit activities. Key takeaways from this bitcoin debacle:
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