- Politicians in Latin American countries are warming up to cryptocurrencies.
- Indira Kempis, a Mexican Senator will present a new bill aiming to make Bitcoin legal tender.
- In Brazil, the Senate’s Economic Affairs Committee recently passed a 2019 bill that recognizes crypto markets.
More Latin American countries are exploring the regulation of cryptocurrencies.
Since El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as legal tender in September 2021, awareness of cryptocurrencies has continued to grow in Latin American countries. Policymakers in ArgentinaBrazil, Panama, and Paraguay have become more open to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies due to the influence of El Salvador and as a possible solution to inflation.
Just this week, there were new updates from Mexico and Brazil. El Salvador news publication in English reported that Indira Kempis, a politician in the Mexican Senate, plans to introduce a cryptocurrency bill that would mimic El Salvador’s Bitcoin law and make the main crypto asset a legal tender in Mexico. Kempis has been pro-bitcoin since she took office as a member of the Mexican Senate – the upper house of the Mexican Congress – in 2018.
It remains to be seen whether Kempis’ bitcoin bill will receive sufficient support from other members of Congress. Four months earlier, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador publicly stated that the country had no plans to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender.
Kempis is not the first politician to advocate making Bitcoin legal tender in Mexico. Eduardo Murat Hinojosa, a member of the lower house of the Mexican Congress, had already announced in a tweet in June 2021 that he would “promote and propose a legal framework for crypto-coins.”
Regardless of whether it becomes law, Kempis’ bill will likely spark a dialogue among policymakers about Bitcoin’s role in the Mexican economy. Rather than making Bitcoin a legal tender, the Mexican government could instead regulate the sector, allowing crypto companies to do business freely. Just last week, Coinbase allowed crypto users in Mexico to exchange their crypto assets for Mexican pesos, an example of how the crypto sector is expanding in the country.
While Mexico could soon see its first bill to make bitcoin legal tender, another Latin American country, Brazil, is taking steps to regulate the crypto sector. On Tuesday, the Brazilian Senate’s Economic Affairs Committee approved a 2019 bill that includes crypto-asset legislation. The bill “recognizes and regulates the cryptocurrency market,” according to an official statement.
The same bill also includes proposals for tax incentives for bitcoin mining powered by renewable energy sources. While the bill legalizes crypto activities in Brazil, it also aims to crack down on money laundering, tax evasion, and other illegal activities involving cryptocurrencies. The bill will soon be introduced in the Senate so that Brazilian deputies can vote on it.
Source: Crypto Briefing
