- Paraguay’s lawmakers overrode the president’s veto of a bill that would have regulated Bitcoin mining.
- 33 senators voted against the decision, and the bill will now go to the Chamber of Deputies.
- Paraguay could become a hub for Bitcoin mining because of cheap electricity.
This week, Paraguayan lawmakers overrode the president’s veto of a major bill that would have put rules on Bitcoin mining.
Lawmakers in the South American country of Paraguay want to make sure that Bitcoin mining is done in a safe way.
President Mario Abdo Benitez vetoed a bill that would have regulated Bitcoin mining in the South American country. On Wednesday, 33 senators voted against that decision.
In July, Paraguay’s government passed a bill to set up a clear system of taxes and rules that would let miners know where they stand while they work in the country.
Then, President Benitez put a stop to it, saying that mining uses a lot of energy but doesn’t create many jobs.
But the vote this week shows that senators are determined to regulate the industry, which is currently operating in a grey area of the law in the Latin American country. According to a press release from the country’s Congress, Senator Enrique Salyn Buzarquis said it was “better to formalise” the industry so they could tax it.
Daniel Rojas, a member of Congress, also said that a well-regulated crypto industry could bring “new kinds of jobs” to Paraguay.
Lawmakers think Paraguay could become a hub for cryptocurrencies because Bitcoin miners are becoming more and more interested in the country, mostly because it has cheap electricity.
Bitcoin mining, which is the business of adding and verifying blocks of transactions to the public blockchain of the asset, is often done on an industrial scale and requires a lot of computers and energy.
Big crypto companies want to set up shop in Paraguay: Bitfarms, a big mining company in Canada, said last year that it was moving into the country on a five-year lease with an agreement to buy 10 MW of green hydropower that would be renewed every year.
The bill will now be talked about in Paraguay’s Chamber of Deputies.
