Banco of Investimentos Globais (BiG), one of Portugal’s largest banks, has started blocking fiat transfers to crypto platforms, according to a report. notification shared by José Maria Macedo, co-founder of Delphi Labs.
The notice refers to compliance with guidelines published by the European Central Bank (ECB), the European Banking Authority (EBA) and the Bank of Portugal on the risks associated with offering digital assets.
Furthermore, the notice states that the decision was motivated by the need to ensure compliance with the country’s laws against money laundering and terrorist financing.
Big reported almost €7 billion in assets under management in 2023, equivalent to approximately $7.2 billion.
Notably, blocking fiat transfers to crypto platforms in Portugal seems to only come from BiG for now. According to one user comment According to Macedo’s publication, fiat transfers to crypto platforms through Portugal’s largest bank, Caixa Geral de Depósitos, are common.
Macedo criticized BiG’s move, saying:
“Crypto is inevitable, banks are dead, and this abuse of power will only cause more people to move their wealth onto the chain.”
The EU’s mixed position on crypto and blockchain
The guidelines mentioned by BiG may be related to a publication by ECB economist Jürgen Schaaf, a well-known Bitcoin (BTC) critic. He published in February last year a paper highlighting Bitcoin’s volatility and potential environmental damage.
The document also questioned Bitcoin’s price at the time when it crossed the $50,000 mark, claiming it was a “dead cat bounce” fueled by market manipulation. The flagship crypto has since risen another 100% in value.
At the time, Schaaf argued that the adoption of spot exchange-traded funds (ETF) in the US would fail to make Bitcoin attractive as a safe and legitimate asset. He concluded the document by calling for stricter regulation of BTC, up to “practically banning it.”
On October 20 of the same year, Schaaf published another paper claiming that Bitcoin benefits early adopters at the expense of new investors. He also claimed that Bitcoin does not increase the productive capacity of the economy.
Meanwhile, ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone recently called on the EU to embrace digital assets and distributed ledger technology (DLT) tackle fragmentation of the European capital markets.