The non-governmental group Bitcoin Argentina has put out a draught bill that would regulate the bitcoin sector in a way that upholds public confidence and maintains decentralisation. Ricardo Mihura, the president of Bitcoin Argentina, presented the proposed legal framework on November 10 at LABITCONF 2023 in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina. The group opposed industry regulation in the past, but they now contend that regulations are required to protect blockchain technology and make criminals legally responsible.
Separating Bitcoin platforms and service providers into three groups—decentralized, local centralised or open to communication with authorities, and global centralized—is the main objective of the first article of the legislative framework. Platforms in the two centralised categories would be free to operate, but their clients would have the most comprehensive legal protection available, ensuring that they could sue for damages in the event that the company failed. The Argentine judiciary will not step in to address decentralised platforms’ shortcomings. When it comes to handling claims made by people who say they were harmed by a cryptocurrency network, courts will determine whether or not it is sufficiently decentralised.
Mihura emphasised that because blockchain is an international technology, banning cryptocurrencies outright would not be effective. He thinks it is absurd to suggest a top-down ban and that Argentina has no ability to forbid its citizens from working in international settings. The law is being introduced just one week before Argentina’s presidential run-off election, which pits Javier Milei, a former economist turned politician, against Sergio Massa, the minister of economics. Milei wants to replace Argentina’s central bank with the US currency. With a yearly inflation rate of 121.7%, Argentina has the fourth-highest inflation crisis in the world right now.
