Armenian government to stay out of cryptocurrency market

The Armenian government has not approved amendments to the ‘Law on the Development of Digital Technologies’ or the ‘Law on State Registration of Legal Entities, Separated Subdivisions, Enterprises of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs’. The changes would have defined a “miner” of cryptocurrencies and set tax privileges and registration requirements for them. Minister of Economic Development Suren Karayan noted that the changes were inappropriate at this time as the stance of most leading countries is to refrain from dealing with cryptocurrencies, adding that global experience in managing cryptocurrencies has proven that control is virtually impossible in practice. The Minister also noted that, had they passed, the changes could have opened the door to several risk factors, including money laundering, terrorism financing, fraud, hacker attacks, violations of consumer interests and high fluctuations in cryptocurrency prices.