President of Panama rejects the crypto bill in its current form

The President of Panama, Laurentino Cortizo, has stated that he’ll not sign the crypto bill until it contains tougher protection methods.

Cortizo has stated that he’ll not sign the law regulating the use of crypto till it has some tougher anti-money laundering methods. The national assembly had passed the bill last month. However, the bill is currently stuck in the president’s office.

With this law in place, crypto exchanges can easily obtain licenses to operate in the country. Moreover, it regulates the digital currency transactions in the country. Finally, the law allows the government to migrate public records to blockchain technology. That’ll help the country become a digital hub in Latin America and attract investments.

However, the president has to sign the passed bill to become a law and come into effect. Currently, Cortizo is not satisfied with the anti-money laundering standards the current bill has.

He has called for global anti-money laundering standards to safeguard investors’ finances involved in the crypto market.

During a Bloomberg New Economy Conference, Cortizo talked about the situation of the bill:

“If I’m going to answer you right now with the information that I have, which is not enough, I will not sign that law. I have to be very careful if the law has clauses related to money laundering activities. Anti-money laundering activities are very important to us.”

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