“People fall for cryptocurrency scams in Colombia because there are no clear rules”

Regulating the bitcoin (BTC) ecosystem and other cryptocurrencies is a necessity in Colombia. At least that’s how Mauricio Tovar sees it, the representative of the South American country before the Ibero-American Blockchain Alliance, who yesterday participated in a Forum on the regulatory framework for crypto assets that was held at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana based in Bogotá.

Tovar stressed before the representatives of the National Government, the Congress of the Republic, the Business Sector and academics on the importance of regulate, once and for all, the cryptocurrency industry.

Colombia has had to wait years to advance in the construction of clear rules to operate under equal conditions in an environment, apparently, controlled by traditional banks, according to what was pointed out by former congressman Mauricio Andrés Toro Orjuela.

Toro was one of the biggest promoters of laws to regulate the cryptocurrency sector in Colombia. In fact, a modified version of his last proposal was approved this week in the third debate in the Sixth Committee of the senateas reported by CriptoNoticias.

So now, when the bill is one step away from becoming law, Mauricio Tovar talks about a great opportunity for the government and legislators to address a great need of citizens. This is regulating a sector that many Colombians are turning to as an alternative to solve their problems.

“In Latin America, particularly in Colombia, people find value in bitcoin and other additional financial services offered with cryptocurrencies. They are going to them because they are not finding other options that allow them to solve their problems. The thing is people are trying to escape the injustices of devaluation and inflation through cryptocurrencies.

Mauricio Tovar, representative of Colombia before the Ibero-American Blockchain Alliance.

Regulate to better serve Colombians

Mauricio Tovar’s concern is that the regulatory framework once again becomes stagnant as a result of the association that is usually made of cryptocurrencies with money launderingsomething that has harmed the ventures with crypto assets that arise in Colombia and Mexico.

In this sense, Tovar highlights that Colombia is ranked number 15 worldwide in the Chainalysis ranking of the countries with the highest volume of bitcoin and other cryptocurrency transactions. “And we must understand that this level of adoption is due to the fact that lCryptocurrencies are solving citizens’ problemsnot for money laundering,” added Tovar.

Mauricio Tovar also believes that in Colombia the risks when operating with cryptocurrencies are increasing because there are no clear rules in the country.

In fact, Colombia is the Latin American country where there are the most affected by scams involving bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

“People are falling for scams because they basically don’to There are clear rules for service providers with cryptocurrenciesand there is a wonderful opportunity to regulate them”, added Toro.

He sees the bill for regulate bitcoin exchanges as a necessary legislation for Colombians. And he hopes that all the sectors involved in the regulation “can look at these bills as an alternative to build the future.”

He is convinced that, with the approval of the law, Colombia will be placed on the radar of many companies that are currently considering emigrating from the United States.

“A clear regulatory framework gives us the opportunity to attract all that investment. That would be a great goal since we are talking about a multi-billion dollar industry with growth potential. And if we look at it from that point of view, we will understand that this is something impressive for the future of Colombia and how fortunate it is that we are one debate away from doing it”.

Mauricio Tovar, representative of Colombia before the Ibero-American Blockchain Alliance.