Bill to Regulate Cryptocurrencies in Colombia to be Presented in February

• In February, Colombia could see the introduction of a legislative project to regulate the cryptocurrency market.
• The proposal will include collaboration between the government and the crypto sector, focusing on regulations and legal certainty.

In the Colombian nation, anticipation is growing around the government’s presentation of a legislative initiative for Bitcoin regulation, scheduled for next February. This expectation hangs in the air while awaiting the start of the next cycle of sessions in Congress.

This proposal, focused on the regulation of the cryptocurrency field in Colombia, is on the threshold of being exposed. This is the expectation of certain members of the local community, who have been working on the legislative project since last year.

According to Mauricio Tovar, in his capacity as ambassador of the South American country in the Iberoamerican Blockchain Alliance, the proposal is already prepared and rests in the hands of the executive power. The hope is that it will be introduced in Congress when legislative activities resume.

After a break last December, the Colombian Congress will resume its work on the 16th of next month. Thereafter, the government will have the opportunity to submit the bill for consideration for possible inclusion in the upcoming debates.

This is an approach that, since 2023, has been jointly developed by Bitcoin ecosystem participants and government entities. This collaborative effort involves the Ministry of Finance, the Superintendence of Finance, the Bank of the Republic and trade associations such as Colombia Fintech and Asoblockchain.

The Colombian community is hopeful that, this time, the project will be approved, after several previous attempts that did not prosper in Congress. This circumstance has increased the urgency of having a relevant legislation.

Inthis context, Tovar and other members of the ecosystem have highlighted, before representatives of the National Government, the Congress of the Republic, the business sector and academics, the relevance of definitively regulating the cryptocurrency industry.

Gabriel Santos, president of Colombia Fintech, supports this vision, stressing the need to regulate and provide legal certainty to users.

In a statement, Santos recalls as relevant precedent the recent approval of Bitcoin ETFs by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He is confident that this historic milestone will influence regulators in his country and motivate them to approve the legislative proposal, preventing Colombia from lagging behind.

For its part, the Colombian government has shown its willingness to legislate on this matter. This was recently stated by the Minister of Finance, Ricardo Bonilla, who, during his speech at the Davos Forum, affirmed that the legislation is moving forward.

“Based on a working table established several months ago, a project to regulate cryptocurrencies is being gestated”, he commented.

This would be the initiative that everyone is waiting for to be made public, presented last year by the financial superintendent, César Ferrari.

The focus of the project is to establish regulations for the creation of virtual assets (AV) and for the operation of cryptocurrency exchanges, based on a precise definition of these assets.

The aim is to require exchanges to provide information to the authorities under a personal data protection regime. This, together with the “adoption of environmental, social and governance measures defined by the State”.

It is considered a series of measures that seem to respond to the needs of the sector, as stated by lawyer Camilo Gantiva Hidalgo, an expert in capital market transactions.

The specialist highlights six key aspects that must be addressed in the new regulation. Among them, the classification of cryptoassets, the supervision of platforms, the comprehensive regulation of all companies in the sector (not only exchanges), consumer protection and the promotion of innovation.