Chilean Deputy Discloses He Holds Ethereum Despite Being a Crypto Skeptic

Giorgio Jackson, a deputy of the Chilean opposition Democratic Revolution political party, recently revealed in an event ran by a cryptocurrency exchange, Buda, that he holds an undisclosed amount of Ethereum (ETH). However, he made it clear that he remains in a crypto “skeptic” stance.

According to a report from Diario Financiero, during an event named “Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies: opportunities and challenges,” Jackson stated that digital assets should be recognized in Chile, but he is not in favor of declaring them as a legal tender like El Salvador president, Nayib Bukele, did in the Central American country. “I do not close myself to the possibility, but I am skeptical, and there are not enough reasons today to maintain that it is something ideal or optimal to have a cryptocurrency as legal tender in any country,” he commented.

Jackson also called off the need to make a traceability to take down crimes that involve cryptocurrencies. Returning to the initial discussion on whether making Bitcoin a legal tender or not in the South American country, the Chilean deputy said that cryptos should get a stable price and urged for a fintech law that could protect people against volatility, trading costs related to virtual currencies, among other factors.

The Need of a Chilean Fintech Law

“The fintech world is not going to be exempt, and we have to see how we protect people. We have to pass a fintech law, find a way for them to settle. And the idea of being able to challenge financial institutions seems to me to be fundamental,” Jackson noted.

In the meantime, in El Salvador, the government announced in June that it would airdrop $30 worth of Bitcoins to every adult citizen in the Latin American country. First, however, they have to download the El Salvador government’s official Bitcoin wallet application.

This move has been cheered by the vast cryptocurrency community around the world. Though the official count of El Salvador’s adult citizens is unknown, many estimate that the count could be around 4.5 million. The country has a total population of 6.45 million, according to world bank data.