Paraguay becomes second country to propose a bill to make Bitcoin legal tender

 

Paraguay becomes second country to propose a bill to make Bitcoin legal tender

Paraguay

South American nation, Paraguay has become the second country after El Salvador to propose a bill to make Bitcoin legal tender. The bill in support of the cryptocurrency was proposed on Thursday night. The bill proposal was confirmed by a member of parliament Carlitos Rejala who has been a supporter of Bitcoin and has shot into global fame in the past weeks. If the bill is passed, it will make Paraguay the second country to make Bitcoin its official currency.

Carlitos said the bill will help position the country to trail the path of growth for the next generation. The news comes at a time when Bitcoin prices have been falling because of a major mining crackdown in China. It may provide the much-needed push to this digital currency.

The South American countries have been more open to adopting Bitcoin because they believe that it may give them an advantage over other nations and help them emerge as next financial powers. However, the process to make Bitcoin legal tender won't be as smooth as it sounds. Even El Salvador has had its challenges.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) earlier raised economic concerns with respect to the plans El Salvador has to make Bitcoin a legal tender, the World Bank denied the country any help to implement the cryptocurrency in its monetary system.

"We are committed to helping El Salvador in numerous ways including for currency transparency and regulatory processes. While the government did approach us for assistance on bitcoin, this is not something the World Bank can support given the environmental and transparency shortcomings," a World Band report said.

Paraguay believes that it can become a crypto hub as the country has a lot of cheap renewable energy. Several stakeholders are notably working with Rejala to introduce bills that will advance the positioning of Paraguay as a Bitcoin hub. Despite this, concerns about bitcoin mining and its environmental impact remain.

Iran had last month banned bitcoin mining in the country for three months because of the continuous blackouts in the nation. Elon Musk and Tesla have also taken an u-turn on their decision to accept payments in Bitcoin citing similar concerns.