Paraguayan Senate Approves Crypto Bill

A bill aiming to regulate cryptocurrencies and their use in Paraguay has received approval in the country’s senate. The legislation had already been submitted earlier to the deputy chamber and some changes were made to it before it was given the greenlight.

This piece of law establishes clear tax exemptions and definitions for companies that are operating in crypto mining and other sectors of the crypto industry in Paraguay.

The crypto bill

Latin American countries are seeking to regulate and standardize cryptocurrencies in order to provide investors operating in the industry within Paraguay with greater clarity.

A crypto bill received the go-ahead from the Paraguayan senate on July 14th, which outlines a number of rules that individuals and companies would be required to follow in order to deal with crypto in the country.

Senator Fernando Silva Facetti, along with others, had introduced the crypto bill in question in the previous year. The deputy chamber made some amendments to the bill that were aimed at improving it.

The details of the bill

According to the bill, the institution that will have the responsibility of regulating the crypto industry in Paraguay would be the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

Moreover, there are rules applicable to crypto mining companies in the bill under which they would have to reach out to the national power administration.

The purpose would be to share a power consumption plan with them and the institution will have the authority of cutting the power of these companies if they do not follow the plan outlined.

Apart from that, they would also be required to pay in advance for the power they intend to consume. As far as taxes are concerned, the bill highlighted that while value-added taxes were not applicable to crypto-related activities, they would be required to pay income taxes.

Lawmakers unsure

Even though the Senate has given its approval for the crypto bill, it is up to the president of Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benitez to decide if he wants to apply a veto to it, or sanction it.

But, there were some lawmakers who are unsure about the approval of the legislation in its existing form. Some of them called on the president to veto the bill.

A senator named Esperanza Martinez was unhappy with the initiative because he asserted that crypto does not even classify as a real industry. He also added that the space was also extractivist as well as electricity intensive. Thus, he said that it did not offer enough job positions and consumed plenty of resources.

Another senator by the name of Enrique Bachhetta shared the same views as Martinez. He also said that the president should veto the law. If it is indeed vetoed, it would not be the first time that Latam countries have made such a move.

Laurentino Cortizo, the president of Panama, had also partially vetoed a crypto bill because of concerns about the money laundering activities associated with the crypto industry.