No One Can Know Whether You Have Bitcoin or Not: Deputy Prime Minister to Arman Yeghoyan

The banks of Armenia will continue to refuse to conduct transactions with cryptocurrencies as long as it is unclear who is behind them and who the owners are. This was stated by Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan during a question-and-answer session with the government in the National Assembly, responding to the question from Arman Yeghoyan, a member of the Civil Contract faction, regarding whether the Central Bank's circular on cryptocurrency transactions is hindering the development of digital assets in Armenia.

Grigoryan noted that no one is against digital assets, as at some point, money will inevitably become a digital asset. “The issue is how much the owner of this ‘property’ is identified. In reality, the Central Bank and our regulations do not apply to cryptocurrency circulation. We merely want the cryptocurrency to become a full-fledged property, but we need to understand who its owner is because traceability is not yet visible, and various problems arise,” he clarified.

According to him, the exchange of cryptocurrency for cash is dangerous in that it can deal a serious blow to the fiscal system since in cashless transactions, at least the owner and traceability are recorded during the payment phase, whereas in cash trade, identification is not possible.

“We will be very cautious regarding cryptocurrency circulation, especially not to hinder mining, as mining also helps us balance the consumption of energy products. I do not think we have a consensus that the owner of the cryptocurrency should remain invisible or in an offshore zone,” the deputy prime minister emphasized.

Yeghoyan countered, stating that cash circulation had dominated in our country for years, and everyone was fine with that. “So why is it now an issue with cash transactions in cryptocurrency?”

“Let me say in advance that I do not own Bitcoin and I am not interested in it...” Yeghoyan stated.

“No one can know whether you have it or not. This is the problem with cryptocurrency,” Grigoryan explained.

Regarding cash transactions, the deputy prime minister emphasized that no one has banned cash circulation, but the Armenian government does not promote it either and will consistently refrain from doing so, as the fiscal system becomes very vulnerable because of it.