Paraguay would regulate Bitcoin and digital mining from 4 state fronts

Paraguay would regulate all activities related to bitcoin (BTC) or digital mining and will do so from four state institutions. This follows from the recently presented legislative proposal called “Law that regulates the industry and marketing of virtual assets and cryptoassets,” to which CriptoNoticias had access today Wednesday, July 14.

The initiative, prepared by congressman Carlos Rejala and Senator Fernando Silva Facetti, was presented in a private act and then before the National Congress of the Republic. The text notes that the Ministry of Industry and Trade will coordinate the enablement, registration, supervision and control of everything concerning Bitcoin.

This work of the Ministry will be delegated to three other units: the National Securities Commission, the Secretariat for the Prevention of Money or Property Laundering (Seprelad) and the National Electricity Administration. The latter will have greater influence in the field of cryptocurrency mining.

“We think it’s the best thing for our country and a really impressive model to replicate in other countries. There are a lot of people involved to remove this which is amazing,” Rejala told CriptoNoticias after the project’s presentation. The proposal does not speak of converting BTC as legal tender, as this newspaper advanced in an article published on July 12.

Licenses for all bitcoin activity

The Paraguayan regulation includes the application and issuance of licenses for mining companies, cryptocurrency traders that it calls “intervening agents”, create a registry of exchanges and service providers for digital assets and establish an energy consumption plan to supply the nascent industry. The sector is recognized by lawmakers as an “innovative industry”.

Those companies or individuals who carry out activities outside the regulations could be punished with administrative or even criminal measures, that is, violators could go to jail. In addition, those who come to law but then commit tax or regulatory violations could lose their licenses and receive fines.

In general, the proposed law consists of four chapters and 22 articles. A preliminary draft to which this newspaper had access consisted of seven chapters and 27 articles. It should also be mentioned that the tax burden of the activity, which was highlighted in a first draft, in the final version is barely mentioned.

Now the initiative will go to debate in the national congress. In parliament, the chambers of deputies and senators will set their views to determine whether the proposal is modified, approved as presented or rejected by a vote by legislators. It is not known how long the considerations of parliamentarians could take.