Posted in: Forex

Georgian Central Bank Prepares Legislation To Regulate The Crypto Market

Georgia is preparing to regulate its Bitcoin industry. Koba Gvenetadze, the governor of Georgia’s National Bank, told The Financial on Monday that the central bank has already drafted a regulatory statute in accordance with international norms.

According to Gvenetadze, the size of the Georgian crypto market is unknown due to a lack of regulation. The monthly transaction volume in September 2020, according to Moneyval, the Council of Europe’s money-laundering monitoring organization, was between 3.5 million and 5 million Georgian lari, or $1.09 million to $1.64 million. Moneyval recommended that Georgian authorities “strengthen the actual execution of its anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist funding measures” at the time.

According to the economictimes.com, the new bill complies with international Financial Action Task Force norms and was written with the assistance of IMF specialists. Virtual asset exchange and transfer services are now outlawed in Georgia. Clients who engage in virtual asset-related activities are regarded as high-risk and subject to “required additional preventative steps.”

Gvenetadze did not provide a timeframe for introducing regulatory legislation in parliament.

Georgia has always had a cryptocurrency mining business. For a country with a population of less than 4 million people, the country possesses around 1% of the overall Bitcoin (BTC) hash rate, which is impressive.

Despite having plenty of electricity, power outages in the isolated Svaneti area this winter were blamed on illicit private crypto mining. The national church stepped in to deliver a spiritual edict, desperate to end the damaging behavior. As part of an attempt to keep the population in the area stable, individual households are given free power.