Panama’s President Laurentino Cortiso has said he will not sign a bill to regulate cryptocurrencies in the country until it includes tougher anti-money laundering measures.
In April, the Economic Affairs Committee of the National Assembly of Panama (AN) approved a bill to regulate digital assets. It aims to make it easier for cryptocurrency exchanges to obtain licenses to operate in Panama. If the bill goes into effect, the government will also use blockchain to transparently store archival documents. Supporters of the initiative believe that this will make Panama the digital center of Latin America and attract investment from financial technology companies.
For the law to come into force, the document must be signed by the president of the country. However, Panama’s President Laurentino Cortizo said he needed assurance that the bill would comply with international anti-money laundering (AML) standards. Cortiso said he is discussing the document with legal experts.
“I have no doubt that this is an innovative bill. However, it is necessary to work more carefully on the international regulation of crypto assets. The available information is not enough to sign the bill. When it comes to anti-money laundering items, you need to be especially careful,” said Cortiso, speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy Gateway Latin America conference in Panama.
The Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) has included Panama in the “grey list” of jurisdictions that pay insufficient attention to the fight against money laundering and terrorism. Therefore, the Cortiso administration has committed itself to comply with the FATF recommendations and tighten control over the country’s financial sector, since Panama is considered an attractive “target” for drug traffickers from Colombia and Mexico, laundering their income, including using cryptocurrencies.
Last year, Panamanian MP Gabriel Silva suggested that the Panamanian authorities follow the example of El Salvador and legalize bitcoin as a means of payment in order to accelerate its adoption.
