Uzbekistan to Legitimize Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies

The President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, agreed to approve the creation of a competence center for distributed ledger technologies and Blockchain at the fintech Mirzo Ulugbek Innovation Center. A draft law, regulating e-currency in legal terms, should be ready till September 1st.

On Monday, an administration bill concerning electronic money was signed by the President of Uzbekistan. Responsibilities were put on the Central Bank, the Ministry for Development of Information Technologies and Communications, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economy, along with many other institutions.

The competence center for distributed ledgers will aim at arranging conditions for utilizing the properties of Blockchain tech and endorsing domestic designers specializing in this field. The financial technology is to start working on June 1 this year.

It is worth mentioning that the head of the state, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, ordered the start of active development and stimulation of contactless payments on the financial market, including using international payment systems such as PayPal, Alipay, Visa and, Mastercard. A range of measures towards its application is to be taken by June 1, 2018.

Earlier, workers of the Central Bank of Uzbekistan expressed a negative attitude towards digital currencies and said they believe they were methods for financing terrorism.