De Soto points to Blockchain as a fundamental resource to face informality.
The economist said that cryptoactive networks can contribute to the fight against crime.
The former presidential candidate of Peru, Hernando de Soto, proposed to use cryptoactive networks as a tool to formalize property rights in the country. These statements were part of his speech in the 2025 edition of Peru Blockchain Conference, an event that had special cryptootic coverage.
During his talk, De Soto said that The lack of formal titles prevents millions of Peruvians from converting their assets —As land, businesses or resources – in productive capital, leaving them excluded from the financial system. Thus, he explained that a blockchain could unify those dispersed records in a digital, safe and verifiable database from anywhere in the world.
De Soto warned that informality in Peru not only slows economic development, but also feeds crime and insecurity. He explained that, lacking formally recognized property titles, many citizens end up depending on weak or ambiguous informal documents, which leaves them exposed to being displaced by criminal networks.
Consequently, the finance specialist stressed that A system based on Blockchain would also work to combat organized crime. In its analysis, the absence of the State and legal weakness in many areas of the country allow extortive criminal networks to small producers and informal miners, appropriating their businesses through threats and violence.
«Blockchain not only encapsulates value and makes it recognizable from outside, but is essential to combat crime. It is not that there are criminal miners; Being a criminal is something else. What happens is that true criminals arrive, they approach the miner and say: ‘I want a part of your business, or I take everything.’ If the State is not present, those criminals are installed. It’s like a gangster film, with its own ‘protection’ system, and that is what is happening in the country. »
Hernando de Soto, former presidential candidate of Peru.
The policy specialist used a biological metaphor to illustrate the importance of property rights. He explained that, like a cell he needs a membrane that regulates what comes in and what comes out to stay alive and organized, An economy requires clear limits that define the property of resources.
That structure, he affirms, allows to distinguish what belongs to each one and how it can be used. In his vision, a blockchain -based model offers a way to establish those digital limits, providing order and predictability.
To conclude, De Soto said that giving adequate certification to informal assets is not only a technical challenge, but also a key step towards the construction of a more equitable, efficient and articulated economy with global markets.
Hernando de Soto’s intervention was not the only one to highlight Blockchain’s potential during the conference. Among them, Congressman Jorge Zeballos spoke about the digital vote based on this technology, raised as an alternative to facilitate the suffrage of Peruvians who reside abroad.
The initiative, promoted by Zeballos and approved by Congress this year, will be tested in the presidential elections of Peru in April 2026.
