Paraguay proposes bill to make bitcoin legal tender

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Paraguay, the South American country, has proposed a bill to make bitcoin legal tender. The bill proposal was confirmed by Congressman Carlitos Rezala of Paraguay who has been a supporter of bitcoin. He earlier tweeted “This week we begin with an important project to innovate Paraguay before the world! The real #btc and #paypal for the moon”.

Como ya lo decía hace un buen tiempo, nuestro país necesita avanzar de la mano de la nueva generación. Llegó el momento, nuestro momento. Esta semana empezamos con un proyecto importante para innovar a Paraguay frente al mundo!

El verdadero to the moon 🚀#btc & #paypal pic.twitter.com/ZMRJgAIxgO

— Carlitos Rejala 🙏🇵🇾🙌 (@carlitosrejala) June 7, 2021

The value of bitcoin is up by 6% today and is currently trading at $34,700 after it dropped under $30,000 for the first time in five months. On June 22 bitcoin sank as low as $29,334, a level that was last seen in January. Meanwhile, Tesla’s chief executive officer Elon Musk again tweeted on Friday mocking bitcoin maximalists with a lightbulb joke.

Earlier this month El Salvador, the Central American country, became the first country to make bitcoin a legal tender.  The journey to adopting bitcoin as a legal tender, however, is not going to easy as The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has raised economic concerns around it. “We are committed to helping El Salvador in numerous ways including for currency transparency and regulatory processes. While the government did approach us for assistance on bitcoin, this is not something the World Bank can support given the environmental and transparency shortcomings,” a World Bank report said.

Crypto status in other countries

Compared to other countries the US has clear regulations around cryptocurrencies, as there is a classification as to how cryptocurrencies should be dealt with. For example, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) considers cryptocurrencies as securities, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) deal them as commodities. The laws may also differ from state to state. For instance, in 2019, 13 blockchain laws in Wyoming were passed and now these are officially shown up on the website of Wyoming State recognising crypto as digital assets.

“In the UK, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which is equivalent to the tax authority of India, has said it can be considered as a capital asset. It should not be construed as a payment system because that’s a sovereign function,” Varun Sethi, the blockchain lawyer earlier told Money9.

Similarly, cryptocurrency exchange businesses in Japan are regulated by the Payment Services Act. Cryptocurrency exchange businesses in Japan have to be registered and take all measures to protect customers. Even small countries such as Estonia, Belarus and Malta have dedicated laws on crypto assets and currencies. For instance, the President of the Republic of Belarus permitted the local residents to buy and sell crypto assets.