The bill will allow Panama to become the choice jurisdiction for companies seeking to issue any type of asset.
Crypto adoption is the new trend in South and Central American countries as they believe it holds a lot of financial and economic sense and potential for their citizens. While El Salvador has been able to actualize its aim of making Bitcoin a legal tender today, another Central American country, Panama, just began a similar adventure and has successfully introduced a bill to regulate the crypto sector.
To make the country suitable for the design of the blockchain, crypto-assets, and the internet, a lawmaker in the Republic of Panama yesterday introduced a new legislation that seeks to regulate the evolving sector full of potentials.
Per a previous report from Coinspeaker, “the recent transition of El Salvador to accept bitcoin transactions as a legal method of conducting transactions and trading has caused a surge among the prominent states in Latin America.” It continued that “after a few hours of the announcement, Paraguay and Panama had come forth to join the Bitcoin revolution by making BTC and crypto agreements legal in their respective countries.”
In the draft of the bill presented by the Panamanian pro-crypto Congressman Gabriel Silva and shared on Twitter, the new legislation proposes recognising digital assets, such as the flagship crypto-asset, Bitcoin, as the new alternative for global payment. The bill’s author also reiterated the potentials of cryptocurrencies as the best that offer cheaper, faster, and lower-cost financial transactions, regardless of the destination, parties involved, and the transaction volume.”
What marks the difference between El Salvador and Panama crypto legislation is that the former required the locals doing businesses to accept Bitcoin for transactions alongside the U.S. Dollar; the latter would not force Bitcoin acceptance; rather, it would be at users’ discretion.
According to Silva, Panamanian citizens, experts in technology and crypto were engaged in preparing the new draft bill. He added that the legislation also considered guidelines from appropriate international organizations, such as the Financial Action Task Force.
A local crypto entrepreneur, Felipe Echandi, commented on the legislation that the bill subjects cryptocurrencies to the capital gains regime, as in the United States, and excludes them from VAT. “We believe this is a worldwide trend.”
Echandi continued that the new bill would allow the country to cement its place as a DAO (decentralized autonomous organizations) in the nearest future and it would also allow the Central American country to strengthen its burgeoning crypto space whilst also welcoming numerous crypto firms into its territory.
The bill, Echandi added, will allow Panama to become the choice jurisdiction for companies seeking to issue any type of asset.
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