Mexican Congress have made it clear today that they want to exert illicit control over cryptocurrency and crowdfunding, in a move to tighten up and clamp down on money laundering in the country. According to Bitcoin.com: “The bill seeks to promote financial stability and prevent money laundering,” The National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV), the central bank, and the finance ministry will soon begin drafting secondary laws, which will determine key details for companies in the sector.”What this means is that going forward, new cryptocurrencies must be approved by the Bank of Mexico before they are legally able to operate, all existing cryptocurrencies will be given a 12-month period of grace, during which they must change their operations to comply with the laws drafted in this new bill. Whilst the deal has not yet been signed off, the lower senate of Mexico have pushed the bill up the ranks, ready to be signed off by President Enrique Pena Nieto. Once Nieto puts pen to paper, the law will become active and the 12-month compliance period will begin. The true contents of the bill are not yet known but it is expected that the anonymity of crypto-users will be challenged and that the blockchain will need to become more centralized. As we all know, these sorts of pressures don’t really agree with the nature of crypto-trading so ultimately, it seems likely that trading within Mexico will be reduced massively. Daniel Luévano, the Director of Operations at the Mexican Cryptocurrency Exchange promises that the bill will consider cryptocurrencies to be just as important as the national banks, whether this is fact or not, it does resonate as a plea for help, stating that not all hope is lost just yet. Either way, if this bill really does stunt all cryptocurrency operations in Mexico, Luévano’s reputation will be tarnished for a long time to come. Let's just hope for his sake that the Mexican Senate don’t push too hard on crypto-trading and still allow crypto platforms to flourish, as they do around the rest of the world.