Argentina congressman to present bill addressing crypto. Ignacio Torres plans to present a bill addressing cryptocurrencies to the Argentine Parliament. Efraín Barraza, Operations Manager of Athena Bitcoin in Argentina, and Alberto Vega, CEO of Bithan, collaborated on the draft and are looking to discuss a legal framework for crypto in Argentina.
Barraza and Vega both noted that their interest is to have a discussion and debate in Argentina regarding blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. This is so they do not get left behind, and given that these topics are already being addressed by other nations.
Efraín Barraza explained “We understand that the ecosystem, in order to grow, cannot be outside the law.” He highlighted the importance of users and investors having some kind of protection. “If there is no regulation, things like scams arise, like Onecoin, for example,” he said.
Meanwhile, Alberto Vega pointed out “It is important to take into account where Argentina stands now and how we can get the benefits of being a pioneer country in the crypto sphere. Today we can see that the issue of Bitcoin regulation is not even on the table, nor in the political debate at a national level, when in other countries they are already hard at work on it.”
Vega believes that Argentina must try to take advantage of the ecosystem so that it benefits the country. “We have been in the ecosystem for a long time and we see the problems in the industry. There are companies that have their bank accounts closed for no reason. These are very arbitrary rules,” he said. That is the reason he believes it is necessary to bring everyone to the table to discuss these disruptive technologies. He argues that everyone benefits and that the projects that have emerged in Argentina have an impact.
When speaking about common assests, Barraza clarified that each asset has its own control. To protect themselves, citizens have specific rules and the regulator should not go beyond existing principles or exceed its functions. However, he cautioned that is not the case in the world of cryptography.“The nature of the token is that it can work for many different things in the real world,” he explained. “We are trying in some way, to give it a framework.”
[image: Rafael Leão]
