Colombia just outlawed Bitcoin. Here's how to fight back.

[The Ambia Fund]

In late December, Francisco Reyes Villamizar of the Colombian federal government announced that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Belacoin are prohibited in the country. Cryptocurrencies sidestep Colombia’s steep banking transaction fees that corporate banks and government taxes have driven up.

Belacoin has started a petition to legalize cryptocurrencies in Colombia at https://www.change.org/p/colombian-federal-government-legalize-cryptocurrencies-in-colombia. If you support this cause, please take 30 seconds to sign it now.

Legalizing cryptocurrencies in Colombia helps Bitcoin, Belacoin, and others achieve worldwide integration and application with just a little bit more ease. We know the incredible innovation that cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology can bring to the Colombian people.



Petition: https://www.change.org/p/colombian-federal-government-legalize-cryptocurrencies-in-colombia

Once you've signed it, share it everywhere you can! We can choose to make this petition viral. We can choose to step up as leaders and take on the Colombian federal government over something we believe in.

The ball is in our court. Let us hope we make the right choice.

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[Stapleddiet]

1 of 5 who signed it.

[Rupucers]

Commies trying to take over world

[BitcoinGirl.Club]

Well this was bound to happen. The governments love to collect banking fees and tax from everything so once they can not they outright just ban the dam thing.

[cryptoanalyzer]

Wow....couldn't expect more from the government

[The Ambia Fund]

1 of 5 who signed it.

Thank you for doing your part in helping fix this! A petition is going to have a hard time overturning their decision, but it is a start. Considering how no one else has stepped up against this (and the news was released a week ago), it's the only start that we have. We have to rally around it because no one else will.

[zeze18]

if the Colombian government banned the use of bitcoin is certainly no reason underlying this provision, and it is difficult for people to change the laws that have been enacted, although it would be bad for Bitcoin users in that country

[Dmitry.Vastov]

I think the reason why they prohibits to use cryptocurrency is because the find it no benefits to them since they cant impose tax at bitcoin. It anonimous which means, it will be harder for them to trace who is behind the transaction. They cant regulate bitcoin.
Thats really unfair to people there who wants to earn.  They should revise the law. All bitcoiners at Columbia should sign in this petition.

[Slow death]

In late December, Francisco Reyes Villamizar of the Colombian federal government announced that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Belacoin are prohibited in the country. Cryptocurrencies sidestep Colombia’s steep banking transaction fees that corporate banks and government taxes have driven up.

They banned because these currencies do not pay the high fee of bank transactions... it may be one of the reasons. these governments use the money of the taxpayers to get rich, they must be very angry with currencies like bitcoin.

Another point that I think led to the prohibition of Cryptocurrencies as bitcoin and Belacoin is that these Cryptocurrencies allow users to remain anonymous.

Anonymity further irritates governments of dictator and corrupt countries

Belacoin has started a petition to legalize cryptocurrencies in Colombia at https://www.change.org/p/colombian-federal-government-legalize-cryptocurrencies-in-colombia. If you support this cause, please take 30 seconds to sign it now.

I doubt very much that it will cause any impact. Pay bribes to the politicians that are directing to Colombia that you will have bitcoin legalized

[d5000]

I doubt that Colombia really outlawed Bitcoin (Spanish native speaker here).

Basically the letter is a reiteration of a similar letter from the "Superintendencia" (the Colombian FinCEN) from 2014. It says that cryptocurrencies are not the "legal tender" of Colombia, and that the only legal tender is the Peso (like many other Central Banks have already pointed out around the world). It warns its citizens from using it and says that they use it at their own risk.

The only thing it bans is that banks supervised by this entity operate with this kind of "virtual money". But that is nothing new, the 2014 letter already prohibited this.

The 2016 letter from the Superintendencia can be downloaded here (Spanish).

Some excerpts from the original statement from 2014:

"El bitcoin no es una moneda en Colombia y, por lo tanto, no constituye un medio de pago de curso legal con poder liberatorio ilimitado. No existe entonces obligatoriedad de recibirlo como medio de cumplimiento de las obligaciones"

Basically, that means that it's not viewed as a currency and that's not mandatory to accept Bitcoins.

[las monedas virtuales] "no se encuentran respaldadas por activos físicos, por un banco central, ni por los activos o reservas de dicha autoridad, por lo que el valor de intercambio de las mismas podría reducirse drásticamente incluso a llegar a cero"

In this statement it says that they are not backed by a Central Bank and its exchange value could drop to zero.

That's pretty different from "outlawing" it. Some - even Colombian - newspapers have quoted it the wrong way.

[veleten]

the petitions like the one you are going to sign will have zero to none effect on the goverments decisions
as much as I'm pro bitcoin in general and support colombian bitcoin holders,there is nothing you can do in terms of changing the legislation (unless you vote for diffrent people next elections)
but afaik bitcoin is not outlawed de jure just yet,besides you can always use online exchangers under a different jurisdiction and legalise your coins =turn them into a different e-currency
same things have been quoted by russian central bank,chineese central bank and yet bitcoin is flourishing both in China and Russia

[TastyChillySauce00]

This petition will be useless. They prohibit the existence of bitcoin in their country in purpose and a petition which is signed by just a few hundred people or even less ( which I'm sure that some of these people aren't Colombians ) will not really give an impact to the government directly so they will choose the wisest move and it doesn't give even a single shit. Just don't expect that much from your petition.
But, at least you're trying.

[SvenBomvolen]

   This is only a test, MMF, Central Bank, they choose Columbia to tppest prohibition. They always choose some little country and   then they observe what will happen.
   I also think that petition will be useless, there is more fiat users then btc users for sure, we can just hope their drug cartels will find a way to sell cocaine for bitcoin, and marijuana too.
   Simple question if we use VPN can government track us?

[veleten]

      Simple question if we use VPN can government track us?

it depends on  what have you done
VPN offer anonymity but goverments and associated security agencies can simply work with ISP or have ways
to directly decipher your traffic,VPN will not help you if you are on a watchlist

[SvenBomvolen]

      Simple question if we use VPN can government track us?

it depends on  what have you done
VPN offer anonymity but goverments and associated security agencies can simply work with ISP or have ways
to directly decipher your traffic,VPN will not help you if you are on a watchlist

   Thanks for reply. I have similar thoughts about this matter. I search for possible answers on how to hide my internet activity from government, and looks like there is a lot of ways to do it. On some level some will work, but exactly trying to hide something is what makes government suspicious.
   I didnt do anything, and I`m not doing anything now. I`m just thinking about what will I do if my government ban bitcoin, how can I continue to be involved. I didnt use internet before, I`m learning about everything this days, and I wish to know what is waiting for me in the future.

[olushakes]

Well this is coming, whether now or later as I have said it, if countries cannot get a way to get revenue from the technology of bitcoin, they will have no option than to ban it all together because irrespective of the advantages bitcoin offers, if it does not bring money to the pockets of government, then its not worth it. I don't know how my signing of the petition will help, as I am neither a Columbian or planning to migrate to Columbia hopefully this can get resolved when I decide to visit in the future.

[darkangel11]

Well this is coming, whether now or later as I have said it, if countries cannot get a way to get revenue from the technology of bitcoin, they will have no option than to ban it all together because irrespective of the advantages bitcoin offers, if it does not bring money to the pockets of government, then its not worth it. I don't know how my signing of the petition will help, as I am neither a Columbian or planning to migrate to Columbia hopefully this can get resolved when I decide to visit in the future.

This isn't something we should be worried about. Europe has legalized Bitcoin, it's also legal in The United States. There will always be those, who fight the inevitable progress, but they only thing this is achieving is buying time. Colombia is a very conservative country, but they will eventually have to give up, because how would you fight it? Arrest all bitcoin users and confiscate their wallets? It's not drugs, a dog at an airport can sniff out bitcoin in your pocket

[d5000]

Have you read my post? Bitcoin is not banned in Colombia! At least not for end users.

Villamizar said that BTC is "not the legal tender". That's not the same than "illegal". Bitcoin isn't the legal tender in a single country in the world.

The official letter from the "Superintendencia" only states that financial entities cannot trade with cryptocurrencies, because the National Bank of Colombia and the Superintendencia think it's too risky. And in December Villamizar issued a warning to the general population that inverting in Bitcoin is risky because it's not the legal tender. That's all.

[audaciousbeing]

If OP wants to really make this movement a fruitful one, I guess it should be directed to Columbians as we that are here might not be totally affected so we might not be interested in the petition but if its directed to a forum where its mainly dominated by Columbians then they could be interested in making the required change you hope for.

[cpfreeplz]

I doubt that Colombia really outlawed Bitcoin (Spanish native speaker here).

Basically the letter is a reiteration of a similar letter from the "Superintendencia" (the Colombian FinCEN) from 2014. It says that cryptocurrencies are not the "legal tender" of Colombia, and that the only legal tender is the Peso (like many other Central Banks have already pointed out around the world). It warns its citizens from using it and says that they use it at their own risk.

The only thing it bans is that banks supervised by this entity operate with this kind of "virtual money". But that is nothing new, the 2014 letter already prohibited this.

The 2016 letter from the Superintendencia can be downloaded here (Spanish).

Some excerpts from the original statement from 2014:

"El bitcoin no es una moneda en Colombia y, por lo tanto, no constituye un medio de pago de curso legal con poder liberatorio ilimitado. No existe entonces obligatoriedad de recibirlo como medio de cumplimiento de las obligaciones"

Basically, that means that it's not viewed as a currency and that's not mandatory to accept Bitcoins.

[las monedas virtuales] "no se encuentran respaldadas por activos físicos, por un banco central, ni por los activos o reservas de dicha autoridad, por lo que el valor de intercambio de las mismas podría reducirse drásticamente incluso a llegar a cero"

In this statement it says that they are not backed by a Central Bank and its exchange value could drop to zero.

That's pretty different from "outlawing" it. Some - even Colombian - newspapers have quoted it the wrong way.

Lol so op was just exaggerating or didn't understand it basically. Just because something isn't legal tender doesn't mean it's outlawed. I can use US dollars if I want. Some places will choose to accept it and some places will choose not to whereas if it's legal tender everyone everywhere accepts it. You won't walk into a bank and give them a $50 bill and hear "sorry, $50 bills aren't legal tender. If you have any $20 bills they are though!" Because it's already paid out by the government what is actually legal tender.

Basically, don't expect to be able to use bitcoins when you walk into a local business. But they aren't outlawed.