March 28, 2024

Paraguay plans to introduce cryptocurrency regulation in the first half of 2020

Paraguay plans to introduce cryptocurrency regulation in the first half of 2020

The Paraguayan regulator plans to make registration of cryptocurrency companies mandatory. To all other,the country's authorities intend to audit the companies involved in this sector.

Now, all virtual asset service providers (VASPs) in the country are required to disclose their activities to the government.

The data obtained will be used fordetermining the maturity, complexity and size of the virtual asset market in Paraguay, with a view to further developing regulations aimed at adequately regulating and reducing the risks of misuse, – said Minister Christian Villanueva.

As all the necessary data is collected, the country intends to introduce standards for cryptocurrencies by the first half of next year.

This step has already been mentioned earlier in the guide,issued by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in June for VASPs, however, this only facilitated voluntary reporting, which was due by December 20th. Now the government is tightening the measures and making this step mandatory.

According to the new rules, the regulator plansmake registration mandatory for miners, over-the-counter outlets, exchanges, and other VASPs. This should have a positive effect on the introduction of standards for combating the financing of terrorism and the protection of money laundering.

 

We regulate ourselves here in Paraguay.And we establish the same level of compliance that banks have with their clients regarding KYC and AML, even if the banks do not want to work with us, – said Jorge Ramirez, founder of the crypto platform Cripex.