PANAMA

On September 6, Congressman Gabriel Silva (Independent) presented before the National Assembly a bill, called Crypto Law, which seeks to “make Panama compatible with the digital economy, blockchain, crypto assets and the internet”. According to the proponent, the initiative seeks to give legal certainty to the digital economy. The bill has the support of deputies from both the ruling party and the opposition. The text was sent to the Trade and Economic Affairs Committee to begin in the short term its legislative debate. 

Among its contents, it is worth mentioning:

• The bill proposes to provide legal, regulatory and fiscal certainty to the use, holding and issuance of crypto assets in Panama, and to create a regulatory framework to promote banking interoperability to boost financial inclusion.
• It establishes that natural or legal persons may freely agree to use crypto assets, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, as a means of payment for any civil or commercial transaction not prohibited by the country’s legal system.
• The internal rules of any payment system should promote immediacy in payments, digital direct debit and standardization of bank accounts, portability of information and bank accounts, among other principles.