Ernesto Portillo proposes a review of several articles of the Administrative Provision that announced the creation of the National Mining Pool of Venezuela, to incorporate the private and international sectors in this project.
The news that the Venezuelan government would create a national mining pool, under the supervision of the National Superintendence of Cryptoassets and Related Activities (SUNACRIP), worried the thousands of citizens who dedicate themselves to this activity as a source of income. The news was seen, by the vast majority, as another attempt by the government to centralize power, even within the crypto space.
Since the announcement of the Petro, a digital currency launched by the government in 2018 that to date has little acceptance in the country, until its recent Spanish President Pedro Sánchez’s announcement The creation of a national mining pool, in which all miners in the country must register to work legally in Venezuelan territory, are attempts by the administration of Nicolás Maduro to control power. Although, for their part, there are those who defend these actions as a way to avoid future sanctions, such as those heard on several exchanges cryptocurrency exchanges that recently stopped providing services to Venezuelans.
A proposal for the benefit of the crypto community
Now, the initial concerns of Venezuelan miners can be mitigated if the plan proposed by Ernesto Portillo, CEO and founder of CriptoJuris Venezuela, is consolidating. Portillo, known for his experience as a legal advisor in labor and digital law, and defender of cryptocurrencies, technology blockchain and smart contracts, presented a tempting proposal during a virtual meeting called “Cryptographic Friday”; a proposal that, if approved, will benefit the entire crypto community in the country.
After analyzing Administrative Provision No. 084-2020, where the creation of the National Mining Pool of Venezuela was announced, Portillo launched a proposal during his presentation “Venezuela Legal Security for Digital Mining”, which proposes that the mining pool coexist with other mining pools in the national private sector, and even with international mining pools. In this way, the national and international private sector is invited to participate in Venezuelan cryptographic projects to promote and encourage the creation of the necessary conditions that guarantee legal security to invest again in the country.
Portillo's proposal states that the power of hash rate that Venezuela accumulates is not only destined for the National Mining Pool, but a percentage is also distributed among private sector mining farms, both national and international.
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One country, one reality
Venezuela is a country of great wealth that has been facing a severe economic and social crisis for several years. A crisis that has forced several companies and organizations to close their operations in the country and its citizens to adopt the cryptocurrencies, as an efficient method of dealing with the constant devaluation of its national currency, the bolivar. Portillo's vision may therefore once again encourage international companies with large amounts of capital to invest in the country.
The ruling published by the government does not specify the operating capacity of the National Mining Pool, nor the equipment it will have available to “accumulate high processing power to speed up block resolution.” However, there are those who believe that the idea can protect Venezuelan miners, who in the future may be unable to access some of the most recognized mining pools within the cryptocurrency market.
Compliance with laws
On the other hand, the CEO and founder of BitData, John White, noted that the existence of a centralized national mining pool is not far-fetched, as long as the laws are followed.
“I am concerned that the processes are being regularised and then officials appear who want to extort the owners of the Digital Mining farms, who are fully complying with the rules of the game; that is, what is stated in the recent Ruling and future regulations.”
Blanco, who is a supporter of the current government, spoke out last year as the first cryptocurrency miner not to allow himself to be extorted by the country's national police.
Reform of articles No. 18 and 19
Disagreeing with Blanco, the CEO of the mining company Doctorminer, Theodoro Toukoumidis, noted that he considers the creation of the National Mining Pool a good idea, as long as miners are not forced to participate in it. Toukoumidis noted that one cannot simply mandate the use of a mining pool or apply sanctions for those who refuse to use it; this simply goes against the basic principles of Bitcoin.
In tune with this, Roberto Hung, another participant in the virtual conference, claims that blockchain “is decision-making on patrimonial content through consensus means”; so in his opinion, in addition to Bitcoin, blockchain includes many other things, such as democracy. Hung emphasizes that blockchain is consensus, freedom, decision-making and much more, and described Administrative Provision No. 084-2020 as an executive order that lacks law.
“By nature, the executive branch lacks normative power, that is, it is not law”
Finally, Portillo also argued that participation in the national mining pool must be voluntary and not mandatory as indicated in articles 18 and 19 of Administrative Provision No. 084-2020, which is why he proposes a reform to these articles.
Portillo pointed out that Venezuela complies with the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and SUDEBAN, to inform banking entities of the activities carried out with cryptocurrencies. In addition, he points out that the Venezuelan state has more than 36 regulations related to the cryptographic ecosystem to encourage its development in the country, although some of these regulations were established with a somewhat deviated vision that seeks to control a sector that was born to not be controlled.
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