According to a letter published on Oct. 8 by Mohan Samaranayake, Sri Lanka’s director-general of government information, the regulators have accepted a recent proposal aimed at attracting investments in the country’s blockchain and cryptocurrency projects.
Sri Lankan authorities, according to Samaranayake, have recognized the necessity of creating “an integrated system of digital banking, blockchain, and cryptocurrency mining technologies” to compete with global partners and international markets. “This committee will be tasked with studying the laws and efforts of other nations such as Dubai, Malaysia, the Philippines, the EU, and Singapore, among others, and proposing an appropriate framework for Sri Lanka.”
Sri Lanka has joined the global crypto adoption campaign by forming a committee to investigate and deploy blockchain and crypto mining technology. Two of the committee’s eight members are worldwide fintech titans, including Mastercard’s Sandun Hapugoda and PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) Sujeewa Mudalige. Traditional finance members include Colombo Stock Exchange CEO Rajeeva Bandaranaike and Dharmasri Kumarathunge, director of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
In addition to supporting this effort, the committee will examine laws and regulations adopted by other countries to create guidelines against Anti-Money Laundering (AML), terror funding, and criminal activities. Sri Lanka’s central bank issued a public warning about the dangers of cryptocurrency investments in April, noting a lack of legal or regulatory remedies. However, less than a month after the notice was issued, the central bank selected three banks to build a proof-of-concept for a shared Know Your Customer facility utilizing blockchain.
