Panamanian congressman Hector Silva is pushing for the adoption of cryptocurrency, by introducing a bill designed to regulate and provide a legal basis for the use of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dodge Coin, and many others. El Salvador has recently become the first country in the world to legalize the use of Bitcoin as a legal tender, however, Panama doesn’t want to stay behind El Salvador when it comes to crypto and wants to become the second country in the world to legalize its use, even though El Salvador’s rollout of bitcoin has been a little bumpy, other countries are starting to recognize the benefits of legalizing crypto, from avoiding the high cost of sending money to other countries via companies such as Western Union, attracting foreign investment and talent, as well as having a comprehensive online banking system without having to go through banks themselves.

Ever since El Salvador passed the bitcoin law, many countries are starting to talk about legalizing bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, as well as implementing blockchain technology to combat corruption, in Panama this fight for the legalization of crypto is being led by congressman Hector Silva, and Felipe Echandi, a digital entrepreneur, they were both inspired by El Salvador’s law to create their very own cryptocurrency law, however, they intend for this law to be a more comprehensive law, one of the things that is different from the Bitcoin law in El Salvador is that this bill doesn’t just talk about legalizing one type of cryptocurrency like in El Salvador, but all cryptocurrencies, this is in part because Panama can’t have one official tender, so this law get around that by legalizing the use of cryptocurrency’s in general, another thing that is different, is that Panama wants to use Blockchain technology to combat corruption, by improving transparency and the disclosure of processes, and lastly another big aspect in this law is that, it is also meant to attract cryptocurrency companies of all sizes, and entrepreneurs to come to invest in Panama and at the same time attracting talented people to help push forward technological innovation.

There are clear differences between El Salvador’s law and Panama’s bill, as we have said before El Salvador’s law only talks about Bitcoin as a legal tender, however, when it comes to the Panama bill, it talks about cryptocurrency’s in general, this allows it to be a far more comprehensive law and potentially attract even more foreign investment then it would have if only one type of cryptocurrency was legal, this law will also allow its citizens to make use of any cryptocurrency they choose as a medium of exchange and overall have a more efficient process.

With this new law, Panama also sees an opportunity to attract investment, by creating a license so that companies all over the world and of all sizes can come to Panama to invest in the digital economy and foster the use of cryptocurrency’s

Another very attractive aspect of this new law for cryptocurrency investors is that no tax on capital gains will have to be paid, this is because the law in Panama says that for a company to pay capital gains to the Panamanian government, that company has to be physically present in Panama, and due to the fact that cryptocurrency uses the internet as a medium and are not physically present in Panama, they are not subject to pay capitals to gains tax.

Attracting foreign talent through bitcoin, this bill wants to take advantage of the popularity of cryptocurrency, and see this as a way to attract talent to Panama, by giving them tax incentives and legalizing all aspects of cryptocurrency, Panama hopes to attract the talent needed to drive progress and to keep innovating the technology sector.