Regulatory authorities all over the globe are looking into regulating cryptocurrencies and the central bank in Armenia has also been told to do the same. Several calls have been issued in the country for regulating the crypto space. People from the financial sector and government officials both believe that it is necessary to introduce regulations for the industry in order to prevent the use of these digital currencies for illicit purposes. Armenia’s tax and customs services is regulated by an organization known as the State Revenue Committee (SRC). It has called on the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) and asked the monetary authority to look into the regulation of the crypto market.

RustamBadasyan, the agency’s head spoke in the Armenian parliament and said not regulating the crypto space would pave the way for illicit and shady transactions. He added that there had already been transactions that used cryptocurrencies for money laundering as well as tax evasion. According to reports, the official of the SRC talked about the matter during the parliamentary hearings that were focused on executing the state budget of the previous year. The SRC collaborates with the Armenian central bank regularly and is responsible for the oversight of the Tax Service and the Customs Service.

Badasyanstated that no action could be taken against crypto transactions by the authorities for now. He highlighted a particular case where a substantial amount of fiat currency had been converted into crypto and said that there had been no outcome of the investigation into the matter because of the lack of existence of a legal framework for dealing with such matters. SeyranSargsyan, Union of Banks of Armenia’s executive director had also made comments about cryptocurrencies earlier. According to him, it was time for the small South Caucasus country to address crypto-related matters.

These include ensuring transparency where these transactions are concerned and identification of crypto users as well. The banking official also elaborated that none of the financial institutions in the country are working with digital currencies and they don’t offer any related services either. Last year in March, the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) had made an attempt to come up with a common approach that could be used for implementing rules for crypto adoption in the economy. However, the members of EAEU, which also included Armenia, had not been able to come to an agreement.

The regulation calls for the crypto space come in Armenia at a time when there has already been a delay in development of the regulatory framework for this industry in Russia. With the recent crash that occurred in the crypto market that saw almost half a trillion of its value wiped out, there have been calls in multiple jurisdiction for the crypto space to be regulated in order to provide investor protection. China had already cracked down against the industry last year and some other countries are also contemplating a similar move because of the risks that have become quite evident of late.