Bitcoin adoption has increased in Venezuela in recent years, owing to hyperinflation and the country’s currency crisis.

According to local media, the Venezuelan government has approved a new tax bill that would levy up to a 20% tax on cryptocurrency transactions.

The Venezuelan National Assembly held the second discussion session of a new bill aimed at taxing “large financial transactions” in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin on Thursday (BTC).

According to reports, the Venezuelan government approved the bill last Thursday, requiring local businesses and individuals to pay up to 20% in fees for transactions involving cryptocurrencies as well as foreign currencies such as the US dollar.

The bill, which was introduced on January 20, seeks to levy a 2% to 20% tax on all transactions in currencies other than those issued by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, or the Venezuelan bolivar, and El Petro, the country’s oil-backed cryptocurrency

The initiative’s goal is to encourage the use of the national currency

The Initiative aims to promote the use of the national currency, which is said to have lost more than 70% of its value in a single year and nearly all of its value over the last decade.

“It is necessary to ensure that payments and transactions made in national currency or crypto-currencies or crypto-assets issued by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela are treated equally or more favorably than payments made in foreign currencies,”

the bill states.

As previously reported by TBEN, Bitcoin adoption in Venezuela has skyrocketed in recent years, with thousands of local businesses turning to cryptocurrency to survive amid hyperinflation. In October 2021, a major international airport in Venezuela planned to begin accepting cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) as payment for tickets and other services.