Spain Crypto Warning Was ‘to Spook Companies Planning Tesla-type BTC Buys’

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Tim Alper

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Tim Alper

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Tim Alper is a British journalist and features writer who has worked at Cryptonews.com since 2018. He has written for media outlets such as the BBC, the Guardian, and Chosun Ilbo. He has also worked...

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June 26, 2023

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A new report claims that the top Spanish financial markets regulator and the nation’s central bank may have released their latest warning about the “dangers” of crypto investment in an attempt to scare companies in the country away from following Tesla’s lead by getting into bitcoin (BTC) buying.

Earlier this week, the Banco de España (Bank of Spain) and the regulatory National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) issued a joint statement, doubling down on a 2018 warning about the “volatility” of crypto. In their latest statement, the bodies issued what media outlet El Español termed a “forceful alert.”

The joint statement made mention of crypto’s “high risk” nature, calling it “very volatile” and adding that cryptoassets were “not suitable for small-scale savers.”

But the media outlet claims that larger companies looking for a hedge were likely the central bank and the CNMV’s principal target with the warning, which came hot on the heels of Tesla’s ground-breaking BTC announcement.

The media outlet quoted an unnamed crypto investment manager as stating that, although the warning was seemingly targetted at small-scale retail investors, it was actually intended as “a wake-up call for institutions and companies,” and threw up an “insurmountable wall” for any domestic firm that wanted to go the Tesla way on BTC.

And other experts chimed in, with one claiming that it would not be Spain’s answer to Wall Street’s blue-chip companies who would lead the charge on BTC investment.

Jorge Soriano, the CEO and co-founder of Spanish crypto outfit Criptan, claimed that family offices might first seek to “invest part of their assets” in crypto – although he opined that the change would take place “sooner than we think.”

El Español pointed out that Spanish law does not currently forbid companies from buying crypto – even if publically traded entities would have to change their statute books before making a purchase.

That said, crypto broker eToro’s Spanish lead Javier Molina offered a “much more cautious” assessment, claiming that larger companies will not flood to crypto “because we are light years away” from the United States, where Tesla’s BTC move was preceded by moves from Square and MicroStrategy, smaller companies who arguably paved the way for the auto giant’s crypto decision.
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