According to executives of local crypto companies, a large amount of cryptocurrency activity is pouring into Cuba in the absence of relevant regulations.
At the beginning of November, the number of Google queries related to Bitcoin (BTC) in Cuba soared, indicating that Cuba’s crypto activity has increased. The founders of major local crypto exchanges Qbita and Bitremesas told Cointelegraph that their platform has seen an increase in activity in recent months.
Bitremesas founder Erich Garcia told Cointelegraph that the platform has been growing steadily this year and user activity has increased significantly. So far, the usage of this service has grown at a rate of 200% per month.
Mario Mazzola, the founder of Qbita Exchange, said: “Currently, the use and trading volume of Bitcoin in Cuba is exploding.” The executive said that Qbita’s trading volume in October was equivalent to July, August and September. The sum of the total transaction volume.
However, both executives pointed out that Cuba has not yet determined the regulatory status of encryption-related activities. Garcia said that under this regulatory uncertainty, some entrepreneurs are entering the encryption field.
“Currently, Cuba’s cryptocurrency is not regulated, and the government does not consider these tokens to be real currency so far. In addition, many entrepreneurs are shifting their business activities to this global and stronger currency. on.”
Qbita’s Mazzola stated that Cuba “completely lifted the control of cryptocurrencies”, while at the same time, the local government also recognized cryptocurrencies as a means to circumvent sanctions. He said:
“In Cuba, cryptocurrencies are completely deregulated. They are neither legal nor illegal. In fact, representatives of the Cuban government have repeatedly hinted on television that the authorities are optimistic about cryptocurrencies.”
Since cryptocurrency still has no specific legal status in Cuba, the operation of local crypto exchanges may cause regulatory issues, but the founder of Qbita firmly believes that the local crypto business will not be dangerous because there is no law that explicitly prohibits them from operating.
Mazzola said: “This kind of peer-to-peer transaction is completely legal, because in Cuba, there is no law prohibiting people from buying, holding, using and selling bitcoin to others.”
According to Mazzola, the local currency reform may be one of the main reasons for Cuba’s rising interest in cryptocurrencies. The Cuban government plans to abolish the dual currency-based economic model, cancel the Cuban convertible peso, and retain the Cuban peso. Mazzola stated:
“The rise of Bitcoin in Cuba is due to the government’s recent announcement of major currency reforms involving currency unification (CUC disappears, CUP retained) and CUP depreciation against the U.S. dollar. Therefore, people use Bitcoin to avoid inflation and currency devaluation to save Negative impact.”
As previously reported, Cuba’s interest in cryptocurrencies is growing, partly because Cuba lacks digital financial services. Major companies such as PayPal and Stripe do not provide services to Cuban nationals.
The restrictions on Cuba’s access to financial services not only extend to traditional payment companies, but also to global crypto companies such as Paxful and LocalBitcoins. Jukka Blomberg, Chief Marketing Officer of LocalBitcoins, based in Finland, said:
“Cuba is on the OFAC sanctions list. We have contractual obligations with some partners, which means we cannot operate in Cuba. I am not sure if this situation will change in the future. Unfortunately, this is the current situation.”
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