Zimbabwe’s central bank has banned the domestic banking firms from conducting transactions with virtual currencies or cryptocurrencies including trading and processing payments.

The move aims to safeguard the integrity of the country’s financial system as well as protect common people from losing their investments.

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The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya stated that it has not provided licence to any entity to deal in these crypto currencies, reported Reuters.

He was quoted by the news agency as saying: “The Reserve Bank has directed all banking institutions not to provide banking services to facilitate any person or entity in dealing with or settling virtual currencies.

“The nature of cryptocurrency transactions make them the currency of choice for money launderers and other criminals.”

In a statement, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe stated that “financial regulators around the world have identified the dangers and risks presented by virtual currencies to financial stability.”

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These transactions are prone to loss due to price volatility, fraud, money laundering and other criminal activities.

Following the decision, all financial institutions of the country are banned from making any kind of transaction using these virtual currencies.

Any entity, which is engaged in providing services using cryptocurrencies, need to terminate all their activities in virtual currencies within 60 days.

Currently, Golix and Styx24 are the two trading platforms for virtual currencies active in Zimbabwe .

Recently, Golix opened an ATM machine to facilitate cryptocurrency transactions.