The country’s top financial institution and its general manager consider cryptocurrencies as illegal.
A few weeks ago, it was announced that Juan José Echavarría, who is the manager of the Central Bank of Colombia, would have launched a platform called ‘Bitcoin Time’, which is dedicated to the adoption of cryptocurrencies in the Latin American country. In this way, authorities of the highest financial institution decided to issue a statement in which it is denied that Echavarría made such a launch. The document explains that he is involved in that project.
In the message, that was reaffirmed through the official Twitter account, the Central Bank commented that the news published by local media is false, although it did not mention the media in which the news was disseminated, it neither linked to the note the tweet that explained the launch.
Contrary to what was allegedly published by the web, the Central Bank decided to share a press article entitled “Cryptoactive”, in which it explained the differences between cryptocurrencies and conventional money. It also questioned their security in the conventional financial markets. The article comments that cryptocurrencies “lack the attributes of legal tender and are not likely to be considered as money”.
About the link that the institution shared, the forcefulness of its affirmation is demonstrated, thus inviting to fill the article. “@BancoRepublica informs that false news related to an endorsement of our general manager to a bitcoin platform circulates on the web. If you want to know the analysis of the Bank of the Republic on virtual currencies and their risks, see”.
A Media Called “Bitcoin time”
When the news emerged after the publication of the clarification of the Bank of the Republic, some local media investigated the alleged launch of the digital website “Bitcoin Time”. In this way, they found that the news of the alleged association of the general manager of the Central Bank was published by the Faint Green Glow web medium, in addition to that this platform dedicated to cryptocurrencies was officially launched in the CFO Forum event held in Bogotá during this year.
It is important to comment that it was sought to certify the existence of this platform on the web using the most important search engines on the Internet, which did not yield any specific information about the existence of a website in charge publish content related to cryptocurrencies.
Publicly, the highest Financial Institution of the country considers cryptocurrencies as not recognized by the current laws of the country, also commenting that “they are not recognized obligations”. Besides, Echavarría sentences Bitcoin as an illegal financial system.
Contrary to the strong position that Echavarría has with cryptocurrencies, it does consider that these assets should be included in the consideration of the Colombian state, so it suggests that the government should include them in the payment and collection of tax, something that has a double position and is not entirely clarified by the authorities.
About this, Echavarría’s comments are recalled when journalists asked about his opinion on cryptocurrencies last February. “They have to pay taxes because they have higher incomes”, said the general manager, pointing to people who own bitcoin.
This does not imply, according to his recent statements, acceptance of these assets or their inclusion in the Colombian financial system, but it means that these people must declare all good value they receive.
Recently, the bank published an article written by its analysts about digital assets. This analysis is based on everything that is currently known about this technology.
Besides, the institution said that it has been away from the original purpose that cryptocurrencies had since they have a very low level of distribution, compared to what they had during their conception, at the beginning.
By María Rodríguez
