Citizens can review the proposal and present their recommendations until Monday, April 8th

Colombian congressman Mauricio Toro announced he will present to the House of Congress of the Republic of Colombia a new bill, which seeks to regulate commercial activities with digital currencies in the country. It focuses and emphasizes the role of the exchange platforms that operate locally.

Toro published the information on Wednesday 3rd through his Twitter account, @MauroToroO. “We have worked with experts on a bill to regulate aspects of the exchange of cryptoactives. As all our projects, citizens can comment the bill before filing (April 8 deadline)”, he said.

This will allow the Colombian community, as well as experts in the field, to send their opinion about the first draft of the project to make any necessary changes, so the final approach will be as comprehensive as possible. Any comments or points in relation to the bill can be sent to the e-mail address @mauriciotoro.com.

Toro added that the preparation of this bill had the participation of a team of experts in various areas, with the intention of creating a more concise proposal to drive the issues associated with the trade of digital currencies.

Authorities will Monitor the Operations

The proposal focuses mainly on the definition of the general considerations for the operation of the exchanges, which will be the agencies that will provide services for the exchange of cryptocurrencies.

Among the highlights of the bill is the creation of a “Unique Registry of Cryptoactive Exchange Platforms (RUPIC)”, an electronic database under the jurisdiction of the Chamber of Commerce.

This registry will have the function of monitoring and verifying the operations of those companies that offer services of exchange and commercialization of digital assets, as well as their credentials or any information of interest for their users and the pertinent authorities.

In this way, companies must present themselves to this Colombian authority and register in the territory of that country, or operate as a branch of a transnational company.

The project contemplates that companies must have a first level security system approved by the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications of Colombia (MinTIC). The objective is to comply with procedures such as anti-money laundering (AML) and Know-Your-Customer (KYC).

It is also established that exchanges will not be able to make movements of their users’ funds without prior authorization from them. They will not be able to offer payments for the maintenance of user funds on the platforms.

An important aspect highlighted at the end of the document is that the project does not apply to companies and organizations that use blockchain technology and are not associated with the trade of cryptoactives; thus, these will be considered for other special laws.

If the bill is approved, the service providers and the respective organizations will have a period of six months to adapt to the provisions established in the document.

This is how, until now, Colombia is giving a step forward in terms of regulation and adoption of cryptoactives. However, the centralization proposed by the law and the possible government interference of the MinTIc is a subject that will be debated by the crypto community of the Caribbean country.

By María Victoria Rodríguez

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