Paraguayan President vetoes cryptocurrency mining bill

Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benítez vetoes a bill regulating mining and trading cryptocurrencies.

According to the head of state, high electricity consumption in the mining of digital assets may hinder the development of a sustainable national industry.

Senator Fernando Silva Fachetti criticized Benitez's decision. He noted that such an approach "indicates short-sightedness."

"President opposes regulationa sector that requires control and destroys the possibility of attracting new investors and formalizing hundreds of small and medium-sized companies that operate in this industry,” Facetti wrote.

At the end of May, the amended document was approved in the lower house of the country's parliament. The main change concerned the transfer of supervisory functions to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The bill involved the licensing of miners, as well as the creation of a register of individuals and legal entities that provide trading and storage services for digital assets to third parties.

In July, the Senate of Paraguay supported the initiative, after which the document was sent to the head of state for approval.

Earlier, Congressman Carlos Rehala announcedbitcoin bill. He later clarified that Paraguay does not plan to give digital gold the status of legal tender, but is going to develop "effective" regulation of cryptocurrencies.

Recall that the President of Panama, Laurentino Cartiso, also did not support the document adopted by Parliament on regulating the use of cryptocurrencies in its current form.

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