Paraguay’s Bitcoin bill passes the Senate

Following the Lead of El Salvador

Shortly after El Salvador announced it would adopt Bitcoin as a currency last year on September 7th, Paraguay proposed their own bill in the summer and had it approved on December 16th 2021. The bill reads “The purpose of this draft law is to establish legal certainty, financial and fiscal in the businesses derived from the production and commercialization of virtual assets”. The government is determined to pass this bill and become the second country to officially embrace cryptocurrency. 

With pro cryptocurrencies members aboard the government party including Senator Fernando Silva Facetti and Congressman Carlitos Rejala, Paraguay is off to a great start exploring the digital space. The Paraguay government is focused on regulating the mining and transactions associated with Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. This is great news to businesses in this region since they will be able to take advantage of this newly formed bill and follow the regulations closely being compliant with the government of Paraguay. 

Grupo Cinco New Payment Methods

Paraguay's largest entertainment company Grupo Cinco announced that it will begin accepting payments in the following cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Shiba, and Chiliz. This announcement was made on June 17th by the company stating its excitement for the new payment methods. Grupo Cinco followed it up by retweeting @thebillions_es news statement posted to Twitter. 

Senator Fernando Silva Facetti is one of the authors of the bill proposed by Paraguay, he states, “This is not a legal tender, this is a commodity, and the purpose of the law is to regulate and control this industry,”. Senator Facetti is trying to regulate the industry and help the country of Paraguay develop its economy at the same time. He knows how widespread the asset class is and is willing to embrace it and its developments over time. 

Paraguay’s Excess Hydropower Opportunity

Paraguay’s electricity generation is produced by 100% renewable energy sources producing 49.34 TWh in hydropower in 2019 alone. Paraguay is close to being one of the world’s largest energy exporters with 90% of the energy it generates exported. The excess hydropower created is exported to neighbouring countries such as Argentina. There is all this clean energy that crypto miners are looking for which is available in Paraguay presenting a great opportunity for miners in the crypto industry. Future FinTech Group Inc. announced plans to build a large facility to mine Bitcoin in Paraguay on Oct 27, 2021. Investors are deeply concerned about the impacts of mining bitcoin on the environment and love to hear that a coin was mined with renewable energy which makes it a “clean coin”. In Kevin O’Leary’s interview with CNBC, he states he will only buy clean coins mined from a renewable resource and he thinks others will follow his lead. Kevin explains, “I see over the next year or two, two kinds of coin, Blood coin from China, (and) clean coin mined sustainably in countries that use hydroelectricity, not coal.” 

The bill will be discussed by the country’s Chamber of Deputies in 2022 to further the integration of crypto into Paraguay.

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