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Topic: Bolivia lifts 10-year old ban on Bitcoin - page 2. (Read 447 times)

legendary
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But now it has all changed, and the Central Bank of Bolivia has recently removed all bans on Bitcoin transactions. Here's the X post from them:
How interesting is it that such a ban technically looks like? About the same as threatening a child with a finger for wrong actions. Smiley Funny, and that's all. Almost as much as if they were trying to ban the wind or the sun. How can the government ban something it has nothing to do with (lack of leverage).

So, basically Bolivia is now at the same level of most of the developed world in terms of Bitcoin. It is legal to transact with it, but it is not seen as a legal tender.
Sounds like some kind of rubbish. So bitcoin is half legal? Smiley

Legal tender can only be the local national currency of the country. Of course, bitcoin can't be accepted in this capacity.

This means that Bolivia finally gave up after senseless and futile attempts to ban bitcoin. Smiley
hero member
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It took them really a lot of years to understand that Bitcoin is not a problem. Bitcoin is an opportunity and they take it wrongly as a threat. They may not feel the effects directly but Bolivia missed lots of opportunities and lots of fortune by banning Bitcoin and I can prove that with an example of my country. My country took Bitcoin as an opportunity and also decided to implement blockchain technologies in the land title registry. We were among one of the top mining countries in the world too. It brought lots of money, lots of investment and lots of opportunities in our country. It's very sad that Bolivia did the exact opposite and missed such an opportunity.
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They also clearly stated that this doesn't mean that Bitcoin is legal tender:

So, basically Bolivia is now at the same level of most of the developed world in terms of Bitcoin. It is legal to transact with it, but it is not seen as a legal tender.

Whether it is made a legal tender or not, the fact that the restrictions on people transacting freely with Bitcoin have been lifted is the greatest of all. It has given a hint that Bitcoin is really kicking harder and soaring high, and by virtue of its growth, Bitcoin will definitely get approved in any other country it is banned in. Earlier, someone asked what Bitcoin would become in the future, but it's good news that the ban on Bitcoin has been lifted in Bolivia after 10 years of ban. Despite that, it is not going to be made a legal tender, but there will be some Bitcoin lovers who will definitely accept it as a means of payment in their businesses. 
legendary
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What I care is "Does exchanging bitcoin (buy & sell) in Bolivia is legal?"
If it is, it is nearly the same in many countries globally, not only developed nations.

I suppose exchanging Bitcoin comes along with the lifting of the ban. OP's attachments and quotations are all in Spanish. If we translate them into English, it says:

El The Central Bank of Bolivia (BCB) informs the public that through Board Resolution No. 082/2024, of June 25, 2024, it annulled Board Resolution No. 144/2020, of December 15, 2020. , thus enabling the use of channels and Electronic Payment Instruments (IEP) for purchase and sale operations of Virtual Assets.

The central bank, however, emphasized that Bitcoin is not a legal tender. As such, companies and the population in general don't have the obligation to accept Bitcoin as a means of payment. But the green light is there for anybody who wishes to transact using Bitcoin for as long as they use registered platforms.

I'm looking forward to crypto exchanges and other custodial services applying for license to operate in Bolivia.
hero member
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It's great the BCB has realized the fact, that they can't control it no matter how much they want to regulate it. So instead of fighting with it, it's better for the economy to accept it as a part.
Governments can make new acts, laws and regulations to govern it and tax their citizens. They can do governance and tax to get income for their governmental budget, keep it running. I agree with you that governments need to know that they can not stop an era technological evolution and they can not tear all human rights apart, destroy it just to prohibit Bitcoin.

If they do it, sooner or later they will lose their governance to citizens because massive disappointment and angry will occur in their countries.

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Not being a legal tender is fine as long as the citizens are able to use it without any blockage. Bitcoin will find its way into the local market eventually.
Being allowed to do transactions, exchanges legally is enough because no risk to go into jails with Bitcoin practice. Legal tender is an absolute legal status for Bitcoin but I don't actually need it to use Bitcoin blockchain. Even no legal tender, the adoption is good enough.
hero member
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Perhaps Bolivia wants a financial boost and thus wants to see if lifting the ban will encourage investments. It could also be, as Cointelegraph says, about modernizing the country's payment system. Not being legal tender is fine, as the op is correct that this is the case in most countries around the world. It's a big step after a 10-year-old ban, and I hope the population will be vigilant if scammers use this lift as an opportunity. I can see that Bolivia's Central Bank is also thinking about it, as they want to create an educational program on managing crypto-related risks.
I would think this is the main motivation behind this move, politicians despite their claims care nothing about any ideology, what they care about is to increase their power, and right now the economy of Bolivia is not on the best shape and more investment is needed.

So it is likely that politicians see this as an easy move to make to try to encourage new businesses to set shop on their country, will it work? I am not sure but it is a move that benefits bitcoin, as one less country that bans it cannot be anything else than a good news.
legendary
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Great News! This is the kind of news we all would like to see on a daily basis. This is exciting and encouraging at the same time! It's far better that hearing about a new ETF being launched.

It's great the BCB has realized the fact, that they can't control it no matter how much they want to regulate it. So instead of fighting with it, it's better for the economy to accept it as a part.

Not being a legal tender is fine as long as the citizens are able to use it without any blockage. Bitcoin will find its way into the local market eventually.
legendary
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That’s cool. They probably noticed there isn’t anything to worry about. Bitcoin won’t replace central banks or any major reserve currency. They must have seen it. That also means Bitcoin isn’t good enough to compete against the central banks. Maybe bitcoin was never about replacing the central banks in the first place.

Either way, bitcoin has one less enemy today and that will affect the bitcoin prices in a good way.

The world has been adopting bitcoin. The governments are also embracing it. That means bitcoin isn’t the enemy.
legendary
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Perhaps Bolivia wants a financial boost and thus wants to see if lifting the ban will encourage investments. It could also be, as Cointelegraph says, about modernizing the country's payment system. Not being legal tender is fine, as the op is correct that this is the case in most countries around the world. It's a big step after a 10-year-old ban, and I hope the population will be vigilant if scammers use this lift as an opportunity. I can see that Bolivia's Central Bank is also thinking about it, as they want to create an educational program on managing crypto-related risks.
legendary
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I don't know why it took them so long to realize that Bitcoin is not a fraudulent currency and that it is very popular in all countries of the world. In any case, it is better late than never.

They may now realize that their neighbors El Salvador are far ahead of them in the field of cryptocurrencies and the significant economic benefit that can come through investment in this industry, taxes and more.

Although they did not recognize Bitcoin as a legal currency, this is positive news since the ban has been lifted and later regulatory laws will be put in place and citizens can now work with Bitcoin without legal problems.
hero member
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The map on Bitcoin legality in Latin America is now getting greener slowly. The only two countries where still relatively harsh regulations are in place are Ecuador, where hodling is permitted but payment not, and Venezuela, where mining is banned. The restriction for banks and fintechs in Argentina has probably also been lifted, at least there are now fintechs offering cryptos and Paypal-style wallets.
There are very little countries on global map of Bitcoin legality with not Green color for Legal status.

https://newhedge.io/terminal/bitcoin/legality-map
https://coin.dance/poli/legality
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/programs/geoeconomics-center/cryptoregulationtracker/

Latin American countries are hub of cryptocurrency adoption because with corruptions of governments, collapse of fiat currencies and bank systems, locals have to look for alternatives to use in their lives and financial activities.
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I reckon that it took Nayib Bukele and El Salvador to adopt bitcoin is a legal tender for Bolivia to start considering that bitcoin is not a scam. They have witnessed the reaction of the IMF and the World Bank after El Salvador's adoption of bitcoin as a legal tender and what advantages it might have brought them on the negotiation table. Every country on South America should start adopting it is legal tender and become a united continent under bitcoin adoption. This would be very headshaking for the IMF and the World Bank heheheheheheheee.
The Bolivian Central Bank stated clearly that the lifting of the ban does not make Bitcoin a legal tender. Individuals or companies are not mandated by the law to accept Bitcoin as a legal tender but banks can carry out Bitcoin transactions through approved electronic channels. El Salvador remains the only country that has legalized Bitcoin as a legal tender.

Bolivia decision to allow Bitcoin after 10-year ban is big step forward. It shows  country is open to new ideas in finance and technology. By making Bitcoin and other digital currencies legal Bolivia can benefit from new financial opportunities include more people in financial system and attract investments. Many countries are now recognizing value of digital currencies especially Bitcoin and Bolivia move follows this trend. This change can boost Bolivia economy and inspire other countries to do same.
It is not too late to correct a mistake, I commend the Bolivian government for taking this bold step. Some Latin Nations have been facing some economic problems which include the high cost of goods caused by inflation. So it is common for them to seek means of fighting these economic issues and it seems friendly policies on Bitcoin are yielding some positive results. These nations need to attract investments and also reduce the influence of intermediaries in international payment systems and promoting Bitcoin seems to be a good option.
legendary
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Another win for bitcoin I guess because given that this will definitely make international news and it will definitely resound with other Latin American countries, and I think that with this news of unbanning bitcoin hopefully a lot of countries would try their best to do what Bolivia just did or even do better because there's no way that this won't have any big impact in the bitcoin ecosystem, another country permitting accessibility of bitcoin to their populace is a good thing since that creates a demand.
hero member
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Bolivia decision to allow Bitcoin after 10-year ban is big step forward. It shows  country is open to new ideas in finance and technology. By making Bitcoin and other digital currencies legal Bolivia can benefit from new financial opportunities include more people in financial system and attract investments. Many countries are now recognizing value of digital currencies especially Bitcoin and Bolivia move follows this trend. This change can boost Bolivia economy and inspire other countries to do same.
legendary
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It took ten years for them to consider Bitcoin isn't scam or could harm them.

Honestly unbanning Bitcoin is already more than enough, it doesn't have to be accepted as a commodity or currency because it would make Bitcoin become more centralized since the government will regulate it.

It's only need a time to wait for other country to unban Bitcoin.

I reckon that it took Nayib Bukele and El Salvador to adopt bitcoin is a legal tender for Bolivia to start considering that bitcoin is not a scam. They have witnessed the reaction of the IMF and the World Bank after El Salvador's adoption of bitcoin as a legal tender and what advantages it might have brought them on the negotiation table. Every country on South America should start adopting it is legal tender and become a united continent under bitcoin adoption. This would be very headshaking for the IMF and the World Bank heheheheheheheee.
legendary
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What I care is "Does exchanging bitcoin (buy & sell) in Bolivia is legal?"
While it was not illegal to use Bitcoin or exchange it privately (e.g. via P2P) in Bolivia, Bolivian companies weren't allowed to offer financial services for cryptocurrencies, so there were no "legal" exchanges in the country. This will change now, if I interpret the communication correctly the "unban" is the previous step for a permissive regulation of crypto services.

The map on Bitcoin legality in Latin America is now getting greener slowly. The only two countries where still relatively harsh regulations are in place are Ecuador, where hodling is permitted but payment not, and Venezuela, where mining is banned. The restriction for banks and fintechs in Argentina has probably also been lifted, at least there are now fintechs offering cryptos and Paypal-style wallets.

By the way, the supposed ban in Dominican Republic which can be seen in the Wikipedia article about Bitcoin legality is very likely not true. According to a recent Cointelegraph article there is even a "progressive" political attitude with respect to Bitcoin and crypto.
hero member
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This is a good move at least, because the citizens of that country have been deprived of the chance to develop and grow in the path of Bitcoin, ten years ban and coming to lift the ban at this point, but I know there will definitely be some citizens of Bolivia that will hold Bitcoin privately all this while since Bitcoin is a decentralized asset with high privacy.


Most of the country that have bad approach towards towards Bitcoin did so because of they lack of understanding of the basic concept in Bitcoin and what it stand to gain if fully adopted.
hero member
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Bolivia, a country in South America, used to be extremely against Bitcoin. Since 2014 they have had regulations against its use, with further updates on that in 2020.

But now it has all changed, and the Central Bank of Bolivia has recently removed all bans on Bitcoin transactions. Here's the X post from them:

https://x.com/BancoCentralBO/status/1805997364362318143


PDF link here: https://www.bcb.gob.bo/webdocs/files_noticias/CP_35%20NormativaActivosVirtuales4.pdf

Very slow and steady we are getting there, the way many people have been addressing bitcoin is now changing from their initial mentality for being a scam or fraudulent scheme as they had thought, we are hoping to see more adoption for bitcoin as a legal tender since many countries have been accepting it as a legal and digital currency for exchange of goods and services, bitcoin is going henceforth bigger and broader for all those who adopt it because they are going to discover all they want from it.
full member
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I think Bolivia lifting its 10-year ban on Bitcoin is pretty significant. The Central Bank of Bolivia decided to reverse the ban, allowing Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to be used legally in the country​ (Crypto Briefing)​​ (Coinspeaker)​. This move could open up new opportunities for financial inclusion and innovation within Bolivia. Plus, it reflects a broader trend of countries becoming more open to digital currencies as they gain global traction.






sr. member
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Maybe they realized that it is impossible to stop bitcoin, or they are planning to launch ETFs for the Bolivian people... this all also surprises me, as the Bolivian government has always been radical left, that is, friends of dictators and of people of the lowest quality like Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, president of Brazil.
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