Latin America - Bitso \ Bukele's debt \ Cortizo \ Russia-Iran \ Armstrong on SUR
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:
Mexico’s Bitcoin Billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego’s ally in congress steps into the 2024 presidential race | 25 January 2023
In Colombia, a blitz of regulatory action against US crypto firms is threatening the country’s pilot | 18 January 2023
Brazil’s deputy Finance Minister Gabriel Galipolo has a turbulent road ahead with his digital currency proposal SUR | 11 January 2023
Argentina’s Finance Minister Sergio Massa discussed the SUR digital currency initiative for cross-border trade with Brazil’s FinMin Fernando Haddad | 4 January 2023
Russia made blockchain infrastructure a priority in talks with Venezuela’s Maduro | 21 December 2022
Here is the most critical policy intelligence from this week if you are a Bitcoin, blockchain and/or financial technology professional making decisions on Latin America.
Mexican Bitso’s Daniel Vogel is seeing its users adopt crypto for “day-to-day” activity like remittances and paying for online products. That’s a signal the company might be moving away from crypto as a speculative investment product this year.
President Nayib Bukele’s government made a $800 million debt payment to bondholders. Market participants were highly skeptical over Bukele’s claims that the payment would be made without an IMF bailout.
El Salvador’s security forces are coming under scrutiny again. The NGOs Human Rights Watch and Cristosal reported widespread human rights abuses during Bukele’s gang crackdown.
Panamanian president Laurentino Cortizo sent lawmaker Gabriel Silva’s crypto bill to the Supreme Court for a judgment on whether the legislation violates the constitution. Cortizo is concerned that legalizing crypto inside the banking system would break the law.
Colombian blockchain association head claims there is a significant Bitcoin project coming to market. Camilo Suaréz leads the Colombian Asoblockchain, a lobby interest group.
Venezuela’s two key geopolitical allies are launching a gold-backed stablecoin. Russia and Iran are exploring the possibility of issuing a stablecoin that would allow for cross-border payments and circumvent the US dollar. Russia and Venezuela are exploring similar initiatives using their Evrofinance-Mosnarbank rails.
Argentina’s Minister of Economy Sergio Massa wants to incentivize Argentines to reveal their crypto holdings. The minister is proposing legislation that will be debated in the next parliamentary session.
Brazil’s Lula da Silva made public that it was considering an integration project with Argentina involving a digital currency. Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, tweeted that he thinks the two countries should use Bitcoin. He called Bitcoin, “the right long-term bet.”
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.