Mexico is just one signature away from regulating cryptocurrency after a law setting out its position passed the lower house Thursday, Reuters reports Mar. 2.
Combining new resolutions on fintech more generally, including crowdfunding and various aspects of cryptocurrency businesses, the bill now only requires a signature from president Enrique Pena Nieto before it becomes law.
The exact details applicable to crypto companies will be specified at a later date as so-called ‘secondary’ laws, the current incarnation of the bill containing more generalized information agreed when it was approved by the Mexican Senate Dec. 5 last year.
As Reuters explains, the new landscape “will give fintech companies greater regulatory certainty around issues such as crowdfunding, payment methods and rules surrounding cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.”
Mexico thus joins a select group of major jurisdictions applying hard-and-fast rules to cryptocurrency.
“For us it was a victory for the sector, because this is being done internationally,” Felipe Vallejo, director of public and regulatory policy at local exchange Bitso told Reuters in December.
This year has been marked by an increase in the efforts of governments worldwide to regulate cryptocurrencies.
South Korea’s hasty attempts to bring order to the market has so far achieved mixed successes. This week, Singapore’s central bank also announced it was “assessing” its cryptocurrency environment to see if regulation was necessary for “investor protection.”