Banco de Investimentos Globais (BiG), one of the largest banks in Portugal, has just issued a ban on transferring fiat money to crypto platforms. This information was shared by José Maria Macedo, co-founder of Delphi Labs.

According to a statement from BiG, this decision is aimed at complying with guidelines from the European Central Bank (ECB), the European Banking Authority (EBA), and the Bank of Portugal, regarding risks associated with providing services related to digital assets. The bank also emphasized that this move is to ensure strict compliance with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regulations in Portugal.

BiG is currently managing an asset block of 7 billion EUR, approximately 7.24 billion USD.

Notably, currently only BiG has implemented this measure in Portugal. According to a user commenting on Macedo's post, transactions transferring fiat money to crypto platforms through the country's largest bank, Caixa Geral de Depósitos, are still proceeding normally.

In response to this move, Macedo has strongly criticized:

"Crypto is an inevitable trend, traditional banking is outdated, and such acts of overreach only make more people determined to move their assets to blockchain."

Contrasting views in the EU's policy on cryptocurrency and blockchain

The guidelines that BiG cites may relate to an article by Jürgen Schaaf, an economist at the ECB known for his critical views on Bitcoin. In February 2023, Schaaf published a paper highlighting the volatility of Bitcoin and its negative environmental impacts.

He also questioned the value of Bitcoin when it surpassed the $50,000 mark, calling it a "dead cat bounce" phenomenon due to market manipulation. However, since that time, the price of Bitcoin has doubled.

Schaaf argues that approving spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States will not be enough to make Bitcoin a safe and legal asset. He calls for stricter regulatory measures, potentially even an outright ban.

In October of the same year, Schaaf continued to criticize Bitcoin through another article, arguing that Bitcoin mainly benefits early investors, while later investors suffer losses. He also emphasized that Bitcoin does not contribute to enhancing the productive capacity of the economy.

In contrast, Piero Cipollone, a member of the ECB Executive Board, recently called on the European Union to accelerate the adoption of digital assets and distributed ledger technology (DLT) as a potential solution to address the fragmentation of the European capital market.

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