The Colombia Blockchain Association was announced in the past week with the coalition of six public and private Colombian companies, Buda Colombia, Bitcoin Colombia, Cajero.co, IntiColombia, Panda Group and RSK. This new entity seeks to support the country’s cryptocurrency and blockchain technology ecosystems and to advise the national government on matters concerning regulation of the space.
Mauricio Tovar co-director of inTIColombia, a research group of the National University of Colombia, and representatives from each group attended an event this past Wednesday in Bogota, in order to create the agenda for the new organization.
Tovar spoke out at the event against an “abusive” traditional financial sector that encumbers Colombians with unnecessary costs.
“citizens distrust the current system”,
he said. According to him,
“the new association should act as an intermediary to the state in order to encourage the informed adoption of new financial technologies, without compromising the decentralized principles of blockchain, as well as to prevent stifling overregulation”.
Buda CEO Alejandro Beltrán contributed his perspective on the potential future of crypto across Latin America, noting that there is estimated to be over 200 million “un-banked” citizens in the continent who could be served by a crypto-economy. He also noted how complicated it currently is for migrants to send remittances back to their countries of origin using fiat money.
Beyond financial applications, the event participants also discussed the possible use of blockchain technology in other fields, including information security, intellectual property, the energy sector, electoral systems and real estate registers.
by Samuel Larreal
