Cannabis industry in Uruguay declares: the Central Bank has to make a choice

If Banco Republica Del Uruguay (BROU) is not going to provide services to cannabis industry which is fully legal in Uruguay, the producers will use Bitcoin instead, warned the former President of Uruguay’s National Drug Committee Leonardo Costa in some local media outlets, tells the Entornointeligente.com portal.

Leonardo Costa noted that the BROU must take more active measures to provide the legitimate drug dealers an access to financial institutions. This statement is published amidst the news that some private banks suspended the accounts of cannabis producers and drugstores that sell substances based on marijuana, believing that this line of business includes very high risks. The headquarters of many banks are situated in other countries where marijuana is still illegal, so the high-level management of these banks decided: the revenue from marketing forbidden substances could be considered money laundering, as illegal drug trafficking is itself money laundering.

The ex-President of the National Drug Committee believes that the BROU intervention here must be a part of national policy or else all accounting of this sphere will move to cryptocurrency sector. Leonardo Costa suggested that the Central Bank develop legal infrastructure of cannabis industry financial servicing and give to some banks the powers of national bank so that they could engage with this industry properly.