New Colombian President vows to fight corruption with blockchain

Colombian President Ivan Duque has reiterated electoral campaign plans to use blockchain technology to combat corruption. Duque, who was sworn in as President last month, emphasises that he will use various technologies to track data and have better control over how public resources are used across Colombia.

READ MORE: Colombia launches time-saving blockchain land registry pilot project

“I want mobile applications to be a mechanism from which the state can begin to think about how to facilitate citizens’ access to services,” says Duque. “I’m therefore proposing to use Big data and blockchain as tools. Big Data in health, agriculture, infrastructure, technology, and security.”

Public biddings on the blockchain

He adds that “if we want to make the bidding processes in the state more transparent, blockchain technology has to help. My government will work towards launching a system for public biddings that is quick and assisted by digital technologies such as blockchain to make even the smaller public biddings, the more urgent and special ones, more dynamic through a process of guaranteed transparency and traceability.”

The President also touches on the subject of regulations in the country. Some of the rules are outdated and hinder the development of new technologies, he claims.

READ MORE: Mexican peso and corruption to be eliminated with blockchain

“Ideally, the Colombian government should veer away from excessive regulation. Currently, this is a sector we are hyperregulating every day and that hyperregulation is an obstacle to the development of technology,” he comments.

Tax exemptions for crypto and blockchain firms

Duque has also announced five-year tax exemptions for companies in the information and communications technologies sector as well as for crypto and blockchain startups that can generate a specific number of jobs.

In June, Colombian Senator Antonio Navarro Wolff said blockchain could help change the lives of citizens through securing the voting system and assisting with public resource management. The Colombian government has set up the Innova group to learn more about blockchain and understand how to protect citizens who invest in the technology.