THE Central Bank has advised people trading in cryptocurrency to be cautious as they are on their own should they be scammed because such instruments are not regulated by Bank of Zambia (BoZ).
Addressing journalist in Lusaka on Wednesday, Central Bank Governor Danny Kalyalya warned people participating in cryptocurrencies that they would have themselves to blame should anything go wrong.
“That currency is not issued by us so that by itself should give you some concern because should anything go wrong it means you are on your own,” Dr. Kalyalya said.
Dr. Kalyalya said the cryptocurrency was very problematic because of its nature of anonymity.
“For sure that currency is not issued by us so that by itself should give you some concern because should anything go wrong it means you are on your own. So we have put out that statement that those participating in this are doing so at their own risk. We have not yet gotten to that point yet.
“Cryptocurrency is very problematic because of the anonymity which is there and you will find that if something goes wrong, what happens. So we are not encouraging people to do that, if you do you are doing it at your own risk,” he said.
Commenting on the cryptocurrency, Central Bank Deputy Governor -operations, Francis Chipimo said the central bank was concerned about some of the schemes where people essentially were using cryptocurrency as something to trade with.
Dr. Chipimo emphasised that currencies such as cryptocurrency were not regulated by the Central Bank, thereby making them dangerous to be used for trading.
“Most Central Bank do not look at it as currency but as an asset which people are essentially trading. It is an asset which is trading online and not as something that is regulated,” Dr Chipimo indicated. Cryptocurrency is a type of digital money that generally only exists electronically without the need for a central monetary authority such as the BoZ.
An example of cryptocurrency is Bitcoin which was among the most active instruments on the online market.
