Latin America - Bitso \ Athena \ Panamá \ Petro Bots \ BASEL crypto standards
Critical Policy Intelligence for Latin America Bitcoin & Blockchain
I hope you are having a great Friday. Thanks again for reading Barracuda Briefing.
In case you missed it, here are the latest Barracuda Insights (for paying subscribers) to keep you up-to-date:
Trolls, Exiles & Sanctions threaten Nayib Bukele’s Bitcoin Policy | 14 December
Ricardo Salinas Pliego is grooming a second Senator for his Bitcoin ambitions | 7 December
El Salvador’s Digital Securities Legislation & Bitcoin Office | 30 November
Chinese blockchain firms are lobbying Panama’s crypto legislation | 23 November
Here is the most critical policy intelligence from this week if you are a Bitcoin, blockchain and/or financial technology professional making important decisions on Latin America.
Mexican crypto exchange Bitso partnered with Felix Pagos for WhatsApp remittances. Bitso is using Ripple rails to grab market share in Mexico’s USD$51 billion US-Mexico remittance market.
El Salvador’s El Faro newspaper ran a deep dive on what happened to the roll out of Chivo Wallet. US Athena Bitcoin, once the public works contractor for Chivo, is being sued as a result of its dealings with other US technology contractors.
El Salvador is playing host to an increasing number of Bitcoin privateers. One advertised his assistance on Twitter to perform “low KYC signup” for Shopify users.
Guatemala’s remittance market grew by 7.2% in 2022. Guatemala Bitcoin companies have been involved in Nayib Bukele’s own Lightning Network remittance initiative.
Panama’s president of the Senate Crispiano Adames sustained meetings with Chinese ambassador Wei Qiang on 30 July 2021. He is understood to be a potential conduit for lobbying Gabriel Silva’s crypto bill in favor of TRON, Huobi.
Colombian billionaire Jaime Gilinski’s digital bank Lulo is preparing to offer 8% interest on savings accounts in 2023. Lulo Bank is one of several challenger banks in the Colombian market with interest in crypto and Web3.
Venezuelan pro-Maduro Twitter bots, like this one, are promoting the state-run crypto wallet Petro. Petro was built on the NEO blockchain. This account shows multiple retweets per hours that favor the Petro App.
Ecuador approved its Fintech law yesterday. However, the business association thinks it involves too many limitations.
Argentine merchants are informally beginning to accept payments via PIX. PIX is the Brazilian Central Bank’s instant payment infrastructure.
Brazil granted Google Pay a permit to operate as a payment institution. It is interesting timing for Alphabet to move into Brazil, since many Brazilian crypto firms are weakened from the FTX/Alameda collapse and liquidity concerns.
The BASEL committee today approved a set of standards for banks with crypto asset exposure. Traditional banks will have until 1 January 2025 to comply.
Barracuda Briefing is a weekly analysis of critical policy & power shaping Bitcoin and blockchain in Latin America. It goes out to subscribers for free every Friday.