Cuba's exploding crypto interest comes amid an absence of regulation

Cuba is seeing an influx of cryptocurrency activity amid an apparent absence of related regulation in the country, according to senior executives at local crypto firms.

In early November, Cuba recorded a major spike in Bitcoin-related Google queries, indicating an increase in crypto activity in the country.

"Bitcoin usage and volume in Cuba is exploding right now," said Mario Mazzola, founder of Qbita exchange.

Qbita's Mazzola said that cryptocurrency in Cuba is "Totally deregulated," while at the same time, the local government has endorsed crypto as a means to circumvent sanctions.

"In Cuba, cryptos are totally deregulated. They are neither legal or illegal. In fact, on several occasions, representatives of the Cuban government hinted on TV that authorities look at crypto favorably, as they understand that crypto may be a powerful weapon against the U.S. embargo."

As there is still no concrete legal status for crypto in Cuba, the operation of local crypto exchanges could raise regulatory questions, but Qbita's founder is confident that local crypto businesses are not in danger because there is also no law explicitly prohibiting them from operating.

According to Mazzola, local monetary reforms could be one of the major reasons behind rising crypto interest in Cuba.

"The rise of BTC in Cuba is due to the fact that the government announced recent major monetary reforms, which involve currency unification and devaluation of CUP vs. the U.S. dollar. As a result people are using Bitcoin to avoid inflation and the negative impact of devaluation on their savings."

As previously reported, growing crypto interest in Cuba is also partially a response to the lack of digital financial services in the country.

Major companies like PayPal and Stripe do not provide services for Cuban nationals due to sanctions by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC. The limits on Cuba's access to financial services extend not only to traditional payment firms, but also global crypto companies like Paxful and LocalBitcoins.