Chilean Banks Urge Anti-Monopoly Court to Revoke Decision Protecting Crypto Exchanges

Two major Chilean banks have urged the country’s anti-monopoly court to revoke its decision that prevents the closure of local crypto exchanges’ banking accounts. This development was reported by Chilean newspaper La Tercera on Thursday, Dec. 20.

Banco del Estado and Itau Corpbanca took legal action following the recent Supreme Court ruling against Chilean crypto exchange OrionX: the decision stated that banks have the legal right not to provide services to crypto firms.

However, the previous ruling of the Tribunal de Defensa de la Libre Competencia (TDLC) — the country’s anti-monopoly court — still stands and grants protection to crypto exchanges. The two banks now insist that the TDLC has to comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling and revoke its injunction.

The attorneys representing Banco del Estado and Itau Corpbanca state that cryptocurrencies are not regulated by Chilean law, and that therefore providing them banking services could lead to certain risks, including money laundering.

As Cointelegraph reported, the legal battle started in March, when crypto exchanges CryptoMKT, Buda.com and OrionX claimed that their banking accounts were closed by several Chilean banks. The anti-monopoly court soon granted them protection, and Chile’s Minister of Finance Felipe Larrain promised to come up with relevant crypto regulation.

Nonetheless, several months later the legislation is still in progress. As Larrain said in early December, “there is no magic wand to solve” issues related to a crypto legal framework.