Paragvajaus senatoriai atmeta prezidento Bitcoin kasybos įstatymo veto

Paraguayan lawmakers this week rejected the president’s veto of a major Bitcoin mining regulation bill. 

A total of 33 senators on Wednesday voted to reject President Mario Abdo Benitez’s decision to veto the bill, which wants to regulate Bitcoin kasyba in the South American country. 

In July, Paraguay’s legislature patvirtintas įstatymo projektą, kuriuo siekiama sukurti aiškią mokesčių ir reguliavimo sistemą, kuri leistų kalnakasiams žinoti, kur jie dirba šalyje. 

President Benitez then vetuotas it, claiming mining uses high amounts of energy but brings relatively small employment benefits. 

But this week’s vote shows that senators are dead set on regulating the industry which currently operates in a legal gray area in the Latin American nation. According to a release from the country’s Congress, one lawmaker, Senator Enrique Salyn Buzarquis, sakė it was “better to formalize” the industry so they can tax it. 

Congressman Daniel Rojas added that “new forms of employment” could be brought to Paraguay through a well-regulated crypto industry. 

Lawmakers think Paraguay can become a crypto hub because it is increasingly attractive to Bitcoin miners—mainly due to its cheap electricity. 

Bitcoin mining, which is the business of adding and verifying blocks of transactions to the asset’s public blockchain, is often done on an industrial scale and requires lots of computers—and energy. 

Big crypto companies are looking to Paraguay to set up shop: Canadian mining giant Bitfarms last year sakė ji plėtėsi į šalį pagal penkerių metų nuomos sutartį su kasmet atsinaujinančios energijos pirkimo sutartimi, kad užsitikrintų 10 MW žaliosios hidroenergijos.

The bill will now go to Paraguay’s Chamber of Deputies for discussion.