Bitso, a Mexico-based cryptocurrency exchange, is expanding and strengthening its push into the Colombian market in the midst of growing interest in these new technologies in the country. Bitso has appointed Emilio Pardo as a new country manager, to debut the start of operations in Colombia in partnership with Banco de Bogota.

Bitso Enters Colombian Market

Bitso, a Mexican cryptocurrency exchange with more than four million customers, has set its sights on Colombia for its expansion. The company is now part of the regulatory crypto sandbox established in the country as part of the ongoing experiment to enable these virtual asset service providers to operate. Bitso’s crypto services will be available to customers of Banco de Bogota who have an account with the exchange.

As a benefit for these 5,000 customers the trial includes, Bitso will not charge the normal fees for buying cryptocurrencies. These users will be able to buy Bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), bitcoin cash (BCH), and litecoin (LTC) with Colombian pesos, directly.

Other exchanges have also entered this sandbox before Bitso. Gemini, a U.S.-based exchange, partnered with Bancolombia in a similar agreement in December. Binance and Davivienda inked another similar partnership in January.

Colombia in Crypto Expansion

Colombia has experienced a growth in cryptocurrency awareness and adoption during this last year. This is the opinion of Emilio Pardo, the newly-appointed country manager of Bitso for Colombia. This is one of the factors that influenced Bitso to center its expansion focus on the South American country. On this subject, Pardo stated:

We are witnessing one of the most important moments in the adoption of cryptocurrencies in Colombia and the region of Latin America as a whole. This will not only benefit Colombia’s financial ecosystem, but it will also help educate and address the needs of our customers and fellow citizens.

The country registered its first real estate purchase with bitcoin recently and has the second-largest number of cryptocurrency ATMs in Latam. But with this growth, the government is also adapting its current regulatory framework to include and control cryptocurrency operations. The Colombian tax authority announced on February 2 that it was taking special measures to identify taxpayers that were incorrectly reporting cryptocurrency transactions.

In the same way, now people and exchanges will have to report cryptocurrency transactions of over $150 to the national anti-money laundering watchdog in the country starting next April.

What do you think about Colombia’s crypto growth and Bitso’s expansion into the country? Tell us in the comments section below.