In a blog post titled 'Public Awareness in Relation to the Use of Virtual Currencies in Sri Lanka,' published on Tuesday, The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) issued a notice against crypto purchases due to the lack of regulatory oversight.
The central bank said the warning was in response to "recent developments in relation to virtual currency usage," likely referring to the ongoing crypto market downturn.
"The CBSL has not given any license or authorization to any entity or company to operate schemes involving virtual currencies (VCs), including cryptocurrencies, and has not authorized any Initial Coin Offerings (ICO), mining operations or Virtual Currency Exchanges," said the blog post.
The announcement comes amid inflation in Sri Lanka reaching a record of more than 54% in June as the central bank raised interest rates to 15.5%. This led residents to resort to massive protests calling for the resignation of the government.
In the meantime, the falling value of the local currency prompted many Sri Lankans to invest in other assets and cryptocurrencies.