Photo: Macau Business

By THE PULSE NEWS MEXICO STAFF

Due to their speculative nature and frequent use for illicit purposes, cryptocurrencies are not and will not be legal assets in Mexico, Finance (SHCP, or Hacienda) Secretary Arturo Herrera said Monday, June 28.

“Cryptocurrencies are prohibited for use in the Mexican financial system. There is nothing that is expected to change on that issue in the near future,” Herrera said during the Third Intensified Follow-up Report on Mexico by Grupo Acción Financiera Internacional (GAFI).

Herrera’s statement came three days after financier Ricardo Salinas Pliego of the Grupo Salinas financial group announced in a tweet the his bank, Banco Azteca, will now accept bitcoins as currency.

“Indeed, in technology (cryptocurrencies) are influenced by very innovative elements that we should seek to adapt to the financial sector,” Herrera said.

However, he added that cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum do not meet the characteristics of a currency, so they cannot be legal currencies.

“A currency must have three characteristics: unit of measure, medium of exchange and maintenance of value, and clearly cryptocurrencies do not maintain their value,” he said.

“Cryptocurrencies are speculative assets due to their variations and are not a medium of exchange because a very high percentage is associated with illegal operations since there is no traceability.”