Bank of Uganda Cautions Against Investment in Cryptocurrency

The national Bank of Uganda has circulated a statement warning citizens against investing in digital currency.

The reaction of the financial institution has come about following an aggressive media campaign by One Coin to attract customers. The videos published by the bitcoin platform show various images of people boasting huge amounts of money in international currencies. A bold slogan in one of the ads reads, “When the money starts pouring in, that’s when people realize you were always right.”

The most enticing element which One Coin’s advertising campaign relies on is that cryptocurrency can be used for borderless financial transactions. Since this form of funds is not endorsed by national banks worldwide, it depends on encryption techniques to regulate currency volume emissions and ensure the reliability of money transfers.

Bank of Uganda’s cautionary note extends to multiple digital currency operators, among which Bitcoin, Ripple, Peercoin, Namecoin, Dogecoin, Litecoin, Bytecoin, Primecoin and Blackcoin. None of them are licensed by the authority, hence BoU’s appeal for citizens to refrain from business transactions with these companies.