Romania’s National Bank (BNR) said on Friday it takes note of the public’s growing interest in virtual currencies and draws attention that these cryptocurrencies continue to be speculative assets, very volatile and extremely risky, with a high potential to cause financial losses for investors, according to its press release.
The Central Bank believes there is a high risk of illicit use of virtual currencies and conditions were created for the management of this risk.
The regulatory process for virtual currencies and service providers has started at the European level and negotiations between the Member States are currently conducted on the basis of the European Commission’s proposal for a regulation on the market in crypto-assets.
The regulations administered by the National Bank of Romania do not prohibit credit institutions to offer account services to providers engaged in exchange services between virtual currencies and fiat currencies and custodian wallet providers.
The Central Bank explained that Romania’s existing regulations do not contain provisions prohibiting credit institutions from offering account services to providers of exchange services between virtual and fiduciary currencies and to providers of digital wallets.
„The materialisation of risks specific to holding and trading virtual currencies and the heightened volatility surrounding the price of some traded virtual currencies do not currently pose a threat to financial stability in Romania,” said BNR.
BNR recommends that credit institutions comply with the law to apply measures on „know your customer and manage risks in money laundering and terrorist financing. The credit institutions must also consider the risks to which they are exposed to as a result of providing payment account services by adjusting internal risk policies and the risk management capacity on objective and proportional grounds.