Bitcoinexaminer reports that Colombia’s central bank, the Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia, has issued a document that suggests all Bitcoin activity in the country will soon be illegal.
According to local newspaper El Tiempo, “the Superintendency of Finance, in a circular issued on Tuesday, will make clear that such products, as well as transactions that are made with them, are illegal in the country.”
Colombian finance minister Mauricio Cardenas trumped his own government’s money in a statement:
"Most importantly … the Colombian state is the one with a monopoly over money. Our currency is reliable, safe and generates no risk, while other forms of money do not have the same level of support and guarantees.”
Bitcoin in Colombia
Tuesday’s announcement will be the Colombian government’s first public mention of digital currencies.
An unnamed source in the El Tiempo report hinted that the ban might be limited to collecting money for Bitcoin and not simply purchasing or owning the currency.
Bitcoin doesn’t have the usage in Colombia as in some other South American countries, but it does have a presence.
Bitcoin Colombia’s Carlos Mesa started a thread on the r/Bitcoin subreddit to offer some details, but the gist of the posts were “let’s wait and see.”
Said redditor u/SonOfAragorn: “I still can’t believe that the minister actually [used] the words ‘we have the monopoly.’ Crazy.”