Paraguay poised to legalize use of bitcoin and cryptomining
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The South American country this week discussed a bill in the Senate that has been pending for several months, which could not only legalize the use of bitcoin, but could also potentially open up Paraguay’s huge hydroelectric power capacity to the cryptocurrency industry.
The bill was conceived by a group of miners together with deputy Carlos Rejala, who began pushing the idea at the same time that El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele announced his decision to make BTC legal tender in the Central American country.
The minority Hagamos Party deputy attracted international interest by pledging that the bill would contain “surprises” related to Bitcoin.
However, when the bill finally materialized, most analysts and enthusiasts who expected it to be similar to El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law were underwhelmed, as the document proposed to regulate the cryptocurrency industry along fairly conservative lines.
However, the bill is mainly about cryptocurrency mining and, if passed, could have an impact not only on domestic miners but is also expected to attract international partners and foreign companies, as it would allow miners to relocate to data centers near the country’s two largest power plants and use abundant clean energy sources.
Currently in Paraguay, the Itaipú and Yaciretá hydroelectric plants generate a large amount of surplus energy. Proponents of the bill claimed that allowing crypto mining companies in the region would be a major step in promoting solutions that would shift mining away from the use of fossil fuels.
Meanwhile, the bill seems to have gained some traction in the Senate with allies and its proponents, and is likely to be taken up again in the upper house in the coming days.
Legislators have said that the document is “highly innovative,” and pointed out that “digital mining is already a reality,” as it is “being actively undertaken in Paraguay,” and therefore the issue needs to be addressed seriously. The ultimate goal is to promote mining as a “new industrial sector” for the country.
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