“In Colombia, people fall for cryptocurrency scams because there are no clear rules”

Regulation of the Bitcoin ecosystem (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies is a necessity in Colombia. At least, that’s the view of Mauricio Tovar, the South American country’s representative to the Ibero-American Blockchain Alliance, who yesterday attended a forum on the regulatory framework for crypto assets at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, based in Bogotá.

Tovar stressed before the representatives of the national government, the Congress of the Republic, the business sector and academics on the importance of regulate the cryptocurrency industry once and for all.

According to former Congressman Mauricio Andrés Toro Orjuela, Colombia had to wait years to develop clear rules in order to operate on a level playing field in an environment that appears to be controlled by traditional banks.

Toro has been one of the biggest proponents of legislation regulating the cryptocurrency sector in Colombia. Actually a modified version of his last one The proposal was adopted in the third debate in the Sixth Committee this week of the Senateas reported by CriptoNoticias.

Now that the bill is just one step away from becoming law, Mauricio Tovar speaks of a great opportunity for government and lawmakers to respond to a great need of citizens. This regulates a sector that many Colombians use as an alternative way of solving their problems.

“In Latin America, especially in Colombia, people appreciate bitcoin and other additional financial services offered with cryptocurrencies. They go to them because they can’t find any other way to solve their problems. The thing is People are trying to escape the injustices of devaluation and inflation through cryptocurrencies.

Mauricio Tovar, representative of Colombia before the Ibero-American Blockchain Alliance.

Regulation to better serve Colombians

Mauricio Tovar fears that the regulatory framework will stagnate again as a result Cryptocurrencies are commonly associated with money launderingsomething that has hurt crypto-asset ventures that are springing up in Colombia and Mexico.

In this sense, Tovar emphasizes that in the Chainalysis ranking of countries with the highest volume of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency transactions worldwide, Colombia is ranked 15th. “And we must understand that this level of acceptance is due to the fact that lCryptocurrencies solve the problems of citizensnot for money laundering,” Tovar added.

Mauricio Tovar also believes that the risks involved in dealing with cryptocurrencies are increasing in Colombia because there are no clear rules in the country.

In fact, Colombia is the Latin American country most affected by Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency scams.

“People fall for scams because they basically don’to There are clear rules for cryptocurrency service providersand there is a wonderful opportunity to regulate them,” Toro added.

He sees the bill for Regulation of bitcoin exchanges as necessary legislation for Colombians. And he hopes that all sectors involved in regulation “can look at these bills as an alternative to building the future”.

He believes that passing the law will put Colombia on the radar of many companies currently considering relocating from the US.

“A clear regulatory framework gives us the opportunity to attract all this investment. That would be a great goal given it’s a multi-billion dollar industry with growth potential. And if we look at it from that angle, we will understand that this is something impressive for the future of Colombia and how fortunate it is that we are just one debate away from making it happen.”

Mauricio Tovar, representative of Colombia before the Ibero-American Blockchain Alliance.