The Angolan parliament wants to ban the mining of cryptocurrencies and other virtual assets, according to the report on the bill to be voted on in the Angolan National Assembly on Wednesday.
In the joint opinion on the bill, which has been moved to a specialised section, the deputies introduced amendments. The title of the proposal is now: “Proposed law on the Prohibition of Cryptocurrency Mining and other Virtual Assets,” reads the report to which Lusa had access today.
The document, drawn up by the Economy and Finance, Constitutional and Legal Affairs and Defence, Security, Internal Order, Former Combatants and Veterans of the Homeland committees of the Angolan National Assembly (parliament), will be submitted to Wednesday’s plenary session, which should approve the law as a whole.
According to the report, the proposed law aims to “prohibit the exercise of cryptocurrency mining activities throughout the national territory and the professional services associated with them, as well as limiting the circulation of virtual currencies not issued by central banks”.
The Angolan executive’s bill was unanimously approved by the National Assembly on 8 December 2023 with 167 votes in favour, zero against and no abstentions.
“This law is based on a number of elements that have occurred and that, in some way, impact not only on environmental sustainability, but also on the country’s energy security,” said the Secretary of State for Finance and Treasury, Otoniel dos Santos, during the presentation of the document in parliament.
In his presentation, Otoniel dos Santos recognised that the country is already experiencing an unregulated movement of cryptocurrency mining with risks of promoting money laundering and terrorist financing.
He also emphasised “the fact that this phenomenon is taking place outside the traditional control of the country’s monetary authorities, such as the BNA [National Bank of Angola]”.
Lusa
