- Gustavo Petro, Colombian president, met with experts from the Blockchain and crypto sector
- Figures such as Samson Mow, Diego Gutiérrez Zaldivar and Mauricio Tovar were present at the meeting.
- Possible use cases for these technologies were explored
- At the moment, Colombia does not have regulations for cryptocurrencies
Gustavo Petro, the president of Colombia, met yesterday with local and international experts in the area of Blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, with whom he spoke about the possibility of taking advantage of their benefits to strengthen the functioning of public entities and certain areas of the popular economy.
This was reported by the Colombian president in a message published on his the co-founder and director of IOV Labs, Diego Gutiérrez Zaldivar; the CEO of TRUweb3 and founder of Tropykus, Mauricio Tovar.
Estuvimos con Samson Wing, Diego Gutiérrez, Raúl Velásquez, Edwin Rivas, Cristian Quintero y Mauricio Tovar, expertos en toda América del Blockchain
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) November 29, 2023
Abrimos varios campos de trabajo;
1. Cómo todo el sistema de facturación de salud puede manejarse en tiempo real bajo…
According to President Petro, among the topics addressed was the possibility of implementing Blockchain in billing systems in the area of health, property and land titling. The possible use of Bitcoin among “free associated labor cooperatives in the popular economy” was also discussed.
Colombia, cryptocurrencies and Blockchain technology
Although the meeting and the comments shared by the Colombian president aim to explore ways to see the possible usefulness of these technologies, for the moment cryptocurrencies find themselves in a kind of regulatory vacuum in the South American country, although the panorama is slightly different for Blockchain.
Regarding cryptocurrencies, after the failures of several legislative initiatives in Congress, the Financial Superintendence reported that it has been working on a regulatory proposal for quite some time , which it will present soon for consideration by the respective bodies.
From the field of Blockchain there have been initiatives aimed at addressing aspects of interest for the Colombian ecosystem. These include prototypes of voting and land registration carried out in recent years, along with a large number of educational campaigns to provide guidance on the potential of this technology.
But one of the topics of greatest interest at this time has to do with the possible issuance of a digital peso (CBDC). On this matter, the Minister of Finance of Colombia, Ricardo Bonilla, confirmed that there are plans underway but not in the short term, and that when this takes place, the Bank of the Republic will be the entity that will appear as the primary issuer.