Qatar Financial Centre Puts Blanket Ban on Cryptocurrency Businesses

[hugeblack]

An article circulated by the local media, Al-Watan Newspaper, indicated that Qatar has just adopted new standards to combat money laundering and terrorist financing as the QFCRA announced that virtual asset services may not be performed in or from the Qatar Financial Center (QFC):

The QFC Regulatory Authority affirms that Virtual Asset Services may not be conducted in or from the QFC.

Source ---> https://twitter.com/QFCRA/status/1210149668056915970

The QFCRA defines virtual asset services as the exchange between crypto and fiat or crypto and crypto, transfer of crypto assets, safekeeping or administration of virtual assets or tools for their management, and participation in or provision of financial services related to virtual assets.

The news seems strange since I know some services that accept payments with cryptos, which confuses the work of those services:

Read more and source --> https://cointelegraph.com/news/qatar-financial-centre-puts-blanket-ban-on-cryptocurrency-businesses

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[CryptoBry]

This is not a good development because it is quite clear that all cryptocurrency related business and activity within this country is not allowed and there can be possible penalties or punishment for anyone trying to circumvent this regulation. Qatar can be a good market for cryptocurrency and the Middle East can be a good and rich source of capital. I am sure the leadership of this country is avoiding the many headaches in administrating and controlling people and companies who may use cryptocurrency for other means and purposes not legal. They may not be seeing the advantages of this fledgling industry that can do for their country. Let's hope that this can be loosened to some degree at the right time.

[milewilda]

This is not a good development because it is quite clear that all cryptocurrency related business and activity within this country is not allowed and there can be possible penalties or punishment for anyone trying to circumvent this regulation. Qatar can be a good market for cryptocurrency and the Middle East can be a good and rich source of capital. I am sure the leadership of this country is avoiding the many headaches in administrating and controlling people and companies who may use cryptocurrency for other means and purposes not legal. They may not be seeing the advantages of this fledgling industry that can do for their country. Let's hope that this can be loosened to some degree at the right time.

Time will tell if there would be such changes and we have seen already on some countries that do revert their decisions towards crypto ban into their vicinity or ruling.For now theres nothing we can do but to accept this fact and a sad news for crypto entusiast into that place and merchants that do adopt such new payment system.When it comes to banning then its pretty common that they do had that common reason why the have done such act.
QATAR is indeed a rich country and a good place for adoption but sadly their government do had that negative views and inputs towards crypto.

[hugeblack]

The distinctive thing in the Qatari government is that it adopts a lot of modern ideas, but I do not see them as a demand for cryptocurrencies, since the central bank controls the funds greatly, so any escape of funds in a decentralized manner may undermine the powers of the central bank.
The unfortunate thing is that many services may be harmful to stop their dealings in Qatar, or they may be granted special permissions.

[dothebeats]

Knowing how Qatar handles modern tech and integrates them into some of their own projects, this is quite unbecoming of my hopes and admiration to them. Then again, knowing how tight their central bank is when it comes to money and newly-rising fintech solutions--especially the decentralized ones such as cryptocurrencies--anyone can see from a mile away that this is bound to happen. And the chances of them reconsidering their decision is close to none.

I'm thinking about the established services in there that deals with cryptocurrencies, whether they would comply or were given any form of notice to close shop or submit a proper application for ban-exclusion. Though it's clear to see that the latter is a far shot from what's gonna happen, let's just hope for the best and see the developments from afar. Perhaps in a year or two, after close scrutiny of the ban and the effects of crypto to their economy, Qatar would reconsider and be one of the forerunners of crypto adoption?

[gentlemand]

What is the Qatar Financial Centre? It's quite hard to tell. Is it one building or area or the heart of their entire financial apparatus?

Odd how not one single Islamic economy has piped up definitively about crypto. All the clerics seem to do is contradict each other about it.

[hello_good_sir]

Honestly don't think that this is a wise move.

I thought that Qatar was quite developed in their financial sector, but outlawing these crypto services will simply do more harm than any good. Government will lose out of revenue and the local economy will pay the prices especially when other countries are choosing to embrace these international companies.

In the near future, countries who choose to be forward thinking in crypto policy will get a significant edge on those who don't.

[veleten]

Qatar financial centre has influence on all of the banks and exchanges operating in the country?
if so then they did shadowban bitcoin and operations with it China style , while it is not directly banned , the banks are discouraged to deal with this form of assets
but the problem is as usual , with the enforcement , the web based exchanges can be out of Qatar jurisdiction and provide services to their population
it will be hard to monitor every bank transaction from , lets say a private card or account and its a common practice for these semi-legal exchanges
they simply create a dozen of different bank accounts and accept , say , bitcoin , then send fiat money from a random card to the seller
I wonder how they can combat this sort of money laundering , apart from setting flags if the amount transacted is above a certain threshold

[Kyraishi]

That is really, really sad news.

Fortunately though in almost all these instances, the fact is that the regulations are easy to put in place but to actually enforce any of the rules stipulated by regulation is the hard part. For instance, how are they going to regulate businesses that choose to stay unregulated, as we see with a lot of exchanges nowadays?

These are questions that all regulators need to consider before pulling a move like this, since it is much better to regulate positively anyhow.

[1Referee]

Fortunately though in almost all these instances, the fact is that the regulations are easy to put in place but to actually enforce any of the rules stipulated by regulation is the hard part. For instance, how are they going to regulate businesses that choose to stay unregulated, as we see with a lot of exchanges nowadays?

I'm pretty certain that the majority of the people and businesses will abide by such rules, but as always, there is a minority that simply doesn't care. The fact that the majority follows the rules is already a major win for any country. If the non-followers of the regulations such as unregulated exchanges grow out too large, they become a target eventually. No way they can keep running for ever.

Look at what's happening with Binance. It's slowly but surely turning into a compliant exchange. I'm pretty confident that within two years they will have a huge list of countries they do not provide services to, simply because their aggressive we-are-everywhere marketing doesn't work anymore due to their size and increasing regulatory pressure.

Binance made a killing when they started, and they knew exactly that it wouldn't last for ever. People however are shocked.