The President of Colombia, Ivan Duque announced his support towards blockchain technology and cryptocurrency at the International Congress on Information and Communication Technologies. He has extended his invitation to all the cryptocurrency firms to establish their business in the country. Along with his invitation, the President also stated that no income tax will be levied on any of the cryptocurrency firms based in Colombia for five years.
Cryptocurrency has been garnering massive support from several nations. The most noteworthy being Malta, which enthralled all the giant cryptocurrency firms across the world. The announcement by Binance’s CEO stating the establishment of their operations in the country resulted in Malta becoming the” Blockchain Island”.
The president stated that he wants the firm to set-up in the country so that they can be ‘experts’ in the cryptocurrency industry. He further added that the firms will need to ‘create a number of jobs in the country’ in lieu of no income tax. He firmly believes that blockchain technology could support them solve the corruption in Colombia. It could also transform industries such as medicine, law and security.
The announcement brought a wave of opinions from Redditors. Debl, a Redditor said: “This is very weird. I’m Colombian, and I know that the Colombian government is VERY corrupt and sold out to the US. We’ll see how this plays out and if he really does what he is saying. He promised things before becoming president, and now he did the very opposite (like rising taxes when he said he would lower them)”. Some maintained a negative stance against the Colombian government while some responded positively.
Dirty-Dusty another Redditor said: “I plan to renounce US citizenship within the next few years when I sell my business here. I already have Colombian and Honduran citizenship so if I don’t have to pay taxes on my gains, Colombia will be my first choice. I’ll stay there while I figure out which country I want to permanently move to.”
Recently, Colombia’s private and public companies collaborated to form a new blockchain association. The motive behind the collaboration is to empower blockchain technology and cryptocurrency and thus help the government make decisions related to its regulation. Senator Navarro Wolff, during the senatorial debate, claimed that the technology could disrupt the lives of Colombians if applied in political, economic and administrative sectors.
