Responsible innovations instead of offshores - CB 

ArmInfo.  In a global sense, it is not obvious how risk management will be carried out in crypto transfers. This was stated by Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia Armen Nurbekyan during a panel discussion on the topic "The  financial future of Armenia: banks, fintech and web3 - to fight or to combine?", which was held as part of Tech Week Vanadzor-2025.

He noted that, despite the development of crypto technologies, in the context of regulations, they cannot create real competition for banks. Today, according to the Deputy Head of the Central Bank, there are a maximum of P2P (peer-to-peer) platforms operating on the market.

"But in a meaningful sense, the issue of risk management, as an institution, is assigned to banks. And I do not see any examples in the crypto sphere where these functions are performed," Nurbekyan said.

Regarding the regulation of the sphere, he noted that this is a  difficult conversation, since no one likes new regulations. Examples of Singapore and Dubai are constantly cited, but, according to the Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank, in 70-80% of cases all regulations are identical. "You give us Singapore as an example, but there are even stricter regulations there, for example, related to advertising, etc. I think that in the general dialogue (with the crypto community - ed.) the content has been very much lost, which makes it difficult to understand where there are real disagreements," he said. 

Nurbekyan expressed the opinion that the narratives of the crypto community should be akin to the narratives that operate in our country for IT, where real quality and results are created.

Many countries have tried to introduce soft regulations in the crypto sphere, but this had a short-term effect.  According to the Deputy Head of the Central Bank, offshore zones often used this.

"I believe that since the Armenian market is small, we cannot  properly develop crypto at its expense. I think we should follow a path similar to the IT sector. No matter how much I talk about it, there is still a gap. But from our point of view, this should be a narrative of responsible innovation, and not offshore sentiments," Nurbekyan said.

At the end of May, the National Assembly of Armenia adopted a bill regulating the crypto assets sector.  This bill is based on the  European regulation The Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) and stipulates that crypto assets will not become a payment method, with the exception of the circulation of electronic money.

The draft law emphasizes the importance of establishing a requirement for the issuer to publish a White Paper, which usually describes its purpose, technology, features, operating principle, tasks and technical specifications. Providing services related to crypto assets will become a licensed activity. Price abuse and insider trading will be prohibited.

A financial hygiene mechanism is also introduced - control over the founders of crypto companies and sources of capital to reduce the risks of money laundering.

At the same time, effective mechanisms for protecting the interests of clients will be created, including procedures for preventing conflicts of interest, receiving and considering complaints and claims from clients, protecting client funds, rules of conduct, publishing the necessary information and other requirements to ensure transparency, allowing clients to use the professional services provided, receive the necessary information for decision-making, contact the financial ombudsman if necessary, and use other available  opportunities to protect their interests.