Uzbekistan’s central bank rules out use of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies cannot be used as a means of payment in Uzbekistan and are unlikely to change anytime soon, said Behzod Hamraev, deputy chairman of the local central bank. This was reported by Spot.

“There are roughly 28 trillion sums in circulation, and all of them are backed by the central bank’s assets. You can even see on banknotes the inscription of the regulator’s obligations, and cryptocurrency is not backed by anything,” he said.

Since 2019, residents of Uzbekistan have been prohibited from buying cryptocurrencies and using them as a means of payment within the country.

In 2021, the National Agency for Project Management under the President of Uzbekistan proposed to allow residents of the country to acquire cryptocurrencies on an exchange. However, this possibility has not yet been realized, ForkLog representatives of the agency said.

ForkLog has previously detailed how cryptocurrencies are regulated in Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries.

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