Three major banks in Chile have recently received a court order to reopen accounts of two cryptocurrency exchanges – Buda.com and Cryptomkt. So far, only one of them has complied with the order. The bank, called Bancoestado, made a move that will ultimately result in opening up an account for Cryptomkt, and the exchange will resume its business in this country in a matter of days. Bancoestado, which is also Chile’s only public bank, stated on Thursday that it has reopened an account for Cryptomkt. One of the exchange’s founders, Martin Jofre, has also confirmed this.
The order was issued by Chile’s TDLC (Tribunal for the Defense of Free Competition) back in April. It included two more banks besides Bancoestado, Itau and Scotiabank.
Scotiabank in Chile is a branch of Canada’s Scotiabank, while Itau is one of the subsidiaries of Itau Unibanc, based in Brazil. Upon receiving the court order in April, these banks appealed the decision but it was rejected, and the initial order still stands. However, the banks have yet to comply with the order and give the two exchanges their accounts back.
Jofre stated that the initial closure of Cryptomkt’s account has seen a return of 99.8% of their clients’ funds. The return happened in the first five days and will force the exchange to start its business from the beginning once more. Still, it is expected that the exchange will continue their crypto transactions as before in a matter of days.
The appeal
Itau and Scotiabank are apparently not too pleased with the order to reopen the exchanges’ accounts and are expected to submit an appeal to the already-approved precautionary measure. On the other hand, Bancoestado seems to have already been in contact with Cryptomkt, and the process of reopening this exchange’s account is near completion.
As for Buda.com, there were still no reports or confirmations that this exchange’s account is going to return. Samuel Canas, who works as the exchange’s legal manager, stated that the exchange will continue to discredit the accusations made by the banks. According to him, the said accusations are a clear indication that the banks do not understand the exchange’s business. He added that this ignorance by the bank also includes the business of other economic institutions that are backing the exchange and its activities.
Bravo law firm explained last Friday that the banks can either comply with the order or to take the entire case to the supreme court. According to the local news outlet, La Tercera, the law firm also stated that even if the banks were to take the issue to the supreme court, they will still have to comply with the TDLC’s order, at least for the time being.
