Bitcoin Argentina Proposes Draft Bill to Regulate Cryptocurrency Market

According to Cointelegraph, non-government organization Bitcoin Argentina has presented a draft bill proposing to regulate the cryptocurrency market in a way that preserves decentralization and strengthens public trust. The proposed legal framework was pitched by Bitcoin Argentina's president Ricardo Mihura at LABITCONF 2023 in Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires on Nov. 10. The organization previously dismissed the idea of regulating the industry but now argues it is necessary to preserve blockchain and hold bad actors accountable to the fullest extent of the law. The first article of the legal framework focuses on separating cryptocurrency platforms and service providers into three categories: decentralized, local centralized or willing to dialogue with authorities, and global centralized. Platforms in the two centralized categories would be allowed to operate freely, but their customers would be granted the broadest possible judicial protection, guaranteeing the right to claim damages in the event of a company downfall. Argentina’s judiciary will not intervene on failures from decentralized platforms. Courts will decide whether or not a cryptocurrency platform is sufficiently decentralized when resolving claims put forward by allegedly injured customers. Mihura stressed that imposing an outright ban on cryptocurrencies would not work given the global nature of blockchain. He believes that Argentina has no possibility of prohibiting its residents from operating in global environments and that it does not make sense to propose a top-down ban. The proposed bill comes one week ahead of Argentina’s presidential run-off election between Sergio Massa, the country’s economy minister, and Javier Milei, an economist turned politician who wants to abolish Argentina’s central bank and adopt the United States dollar. Argentina is currently battling an inflation crisis, with the fourth largest annual inflation rate in the world at 121.7%.