Panama’s latest bill will recognise BTC and ETH as payment methods

Bitcoin is now a legal tender in El Salvador, and some other countries are now working on recognising payments with cryptocurrencies

Panama is looking to make Bitcoin and Ether payments legal in the country. The country is the latest to introduce a bill that seeks to regulate cryptocurrencies and ensure they can be used for commercial purposes.

A member of the country’s independent opposition party, Bancada Independiente, introduced a bill that seeks to regulate cryptos as a payment method in Panama. The bill also seeks to make Panama compatible with crypto assets, blockchain technology and the internet.

https://twitter.com/gabrielsilva8_7/status/1435015640226615299?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Panamanian Congressman Gabriel Silva introduced the bill earlier this week, seeking to regulate the use of cryptos throughout the country. The congressman said adoption of the bill has the potential to create thousands of jobs across Panama, attract investments and ensure transparency within the government.

Per the draft bill, legal and natural persons based in the country would be allowed to freely agree on the use of cryptocurrencies, including BTC and ETH. These cryptocurrencies would be used as payment methods for civil or commercial operations permitted by the government.

In addition to that, the bill is seeking to move public records to the blockchain, digitise legislative and administrative acts using the technology and leverage smart contracts or decentralised autonomous organisations (DAO) for recording documents of legal entities based in Panama.

The bill is expansive, and it touches on the subject of DAOs. The congressman wants Panama to become compatible with the latest ways of establishing trust between businesses and people. The bill recommends using smart contracts and/or DAOs to promote trust amongst businesses and individuals.

Panama’s bill comes as El Salvador became the first country to officially adopt BTC as legal tender. El Salvador’s Bitcoin law became effective yesterday. In the case of Panama, businesses won’t be obligated to accept BTC and ETH as payment methods. However, they can choose to accept these cryptocurrencies as payment options from their customers.

Furthermore, if the bill is approved, Panamanians could pay their taxes, fees and other obligations using cryptocurrencies.