With 40 votes in favor and 12 against, the Chamber of Deputies of Paraguay has approved the bill that will regulate cryptocurrencies.
Despite the general decline of cryptocurrency markets, many countries are still betting on widespread adoption. A few weeks ago, representatives from more than 40 countries met in El Salvador, showing that more and more nations are becoming interested in making Bitcoin legal tender, as President Bukele did in September or, more recently, the Central African Republic.
One of the next countries to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender could be Paraguay. The country It has a legal framework favorable to cryptocurrencies and very low energy costs., which has made it position itself as one of the favorite options for Bitcoin miners in Latin America.
In this context, last Thursday, the Chamber of Deputies of Paraguay approved a bill that will regulate cryptocurrencies, which has been strongly opposed by the country's Central Bank, whose policies on cryptocurrencies are aligned with those of the International Monetary Fund.
The new bill states that: “The objective of this law is to control the production and marketing activities of virtual assets or cryptoassets in order to provide legal, financial and fiscal security to companies that benefit from their production and marketing.”
The bill, which has been reviewed in an extraordinary session, was approved with 40 votes for and 12 against.
Prior to its review, the bill was approved by the Senate of Paraguay in December. After approval by the House, the bill will then go back to the Senate, which will have to review the proposed changes before submitting it to the state presidency for final approval.
The bill, which was originally introduced in julio de 2021 before the Senate, will regulate digital assets and cryptocurrency mining. In this sense, companies that want to engage in mining activities in the country will have to be licensed and regulated by the government.
On the other hand, this bill does not yet consider cryptocurrencies as legal tender.
The bill is more geared towards turning Paraguay into a cryptocurrency mining hub for Latin America, as electricity prices in the country are among the lowest in the region.
Meanwhile, Paraguay’s anti-money laundering agency has enacted a law that will force cryptocurrency exchanges to register their operations under the heading of “digital asset service providers.”
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