National Banco (BN) of state property, the largest commercial bank in Costa Rica and one of the largest in Central America with more than $ 7 billion in assets, is launching a Bitcoin Exchange commercial fund through its arm of Investment management, BN funds, according to local reports.
This brand the first time that Costa Ricans will have access to any type of cryptographic investment product through the country’s banking system.
The firm is also launching an ETF S&P 500 together with the Bitcoin vehicle. The minimum amount of investment for each fund is $ 100. Investments will be taken in US dollars instead of Costa Rican colones.
“[Costa Rican] Regulation does not allow investments in things that are not investment vehicles, and Bitcoin is not considered an investment vehicle from a regulatory perspective, but the ETF is, “said Pablo Montes de Oca, general manager of BN funds.
National Bank serves more than 2.1 million customers in Costa Rica, more than 40% of the country’s population.
Costa Rica does not have any formal law of cryptography, but under the Constitution and the Civil Code of the country, with regard to private parties, any activity that is not explicitly prohibited by law is allowed. Therefore, Costa Ricans are technically allowed to trade and have cryptocurrencies based on the fact that no law prohibits it.
A bill of integral cryptographic regulation called Crypto Asset Market Law was introduced in the Legislative Assembly in 2022, but was stuck at the commission level. The bill was aimed at coding the use of cryptocurrencies for the payment of goods and services in Costa Rica, but without making any of them, Bitcoin, be legal.
