Banco de Bogotá, one of Colombia’s biggest banks, will test crypto services as part of a regulatory sandbox experiment. Banco de Bogotá, Colombia’s oldest commercial bank, is allegedly looking into cryptocurrency-related services.
As reported by the local news agency Portfolio, Banco de Bogotá said Monday that it would join in a pilot project led by Colombia’s top financial regulator, Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia. The project will be implemented inside the Arenera regulatory sandbox, authorized by the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, in September 2020.
By enabling a limited group of customers to purchase and sell cryptocurrencies through the bank using the national fiat currency, the peso, Banco de Bogotá, will investigate the business model and possible hazards of managing crypto assets.
Vice President for Technology Development of Banco de Bogotá, Oscar Bernal Quintero, said:
“Being an active part of the country’s evolution is one of our greatest motivations, and we believe it is important to contribute in the development of a potential legislation that would allow the trading of crypto assets inside the Colombian legal framework.”
Colombia’s government established La Arenera to allow local businesses to experiment with cryptocurrency transactions. The sandbox was officially launched in March 2021, according to the Financial Analysis and Information Unit.
Colombia’s crypto sector has been rapidly expanding. As of October 2020, the nation has the most Bitcoin (BTC) ATMs in Latin America.