COLOMBIA

On September 21, representative Mauricio Toro (Alianza Verde – opposition) chaired a public hearing on the bill he introduced to Congress to regulate Cryptoasset Exchange Services. During the event, the participants analyzed the current regulatory framework, the risks associated with this type of operations, and existing restrictions on access to formal financial market tools by cryptoasset users. Although the initiative has not made any progress in its legislative process so far, it is expected that the contributions made during the event will be used as input to draw up the text for the first debate in the Sixth Committee of the House of Representatives. This could happen in the coming weeks.   

Toro explained that Colombia needs to deepen cryptoasset regulation and provide users with a secure framework, to prevent possible fraud and provide the country with tax revenue paid by these types of companies.  He added that the formulation of the bill will be done simultaneously with the implementation of the financial sandbox being driven by the Colombian Financial Superintendency (SFC, in Spanish). The idea is to facilitate the analysis of which rules should be changed or made more flexible. Finally, he stated that for blockchain technology to offer real benefits for the public and private sectors, qualified personnel need to be trained to recognize business opportunities. 

The speakers at the event were the Financial Superintendent, Jorge Castaño; the President of the Banking and Financial Entities Association of Colombia (ASOBANCARIA, for its acronym in Spanish), Santiago Castro; the Vice President of the National Association of Entrepreneurs of Colombia (ANDI, for its acronym in Spanish), Santiago Pizón; and Jehudi Castro, advisor to the President of the Republic. Other contributors were the President of Colombia Fintech, Erik Rincón; the Founder of Dot & Tech, Clementina Giraldo; the Deputy Director of Digital Government, Álvaro Delgado; and the Director of Blockchain Colombia, Mauricio Tovar.