I hope you are having a great Friday. Thanks again for reading Barracuda.
In case you missed it, earlier this week I wrote about how:
Here are the most important updates on Bitcoin, blockchain and digital infrastructure policy in Latin America:
Mexican central banker Agustín Carstens at the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) wants a new global CBDC platform because it will cut payment costs. Banxico’s governor Veronica Rodriguez Cejas will likely be following Carstens’ guidance.
Daniel Vogel’s Bitso is partnering with Mastercard. This is probably part of Vogel’s strategy to capture 10% of Mexico’s US$52 billion remittance market.
Mexico’s anti-money laundering investigations increased at the UIF under Pablo Gómez Álvarez. The new AML director who replaced Santiago Nieto is reportedly very close with president AMLO.
Bitfinex, the company behind El Salvador’s Bitcoin volcano bond, says that the bond will be issued at the end of this year. CTO Paolo Ardoino says the volcano bond has suffered setbacks because of domestic security issues.
Nuevas Ideas - president Nayib Bukele’s party - used pandemic food boxes to consolidate power, according to an El Faro investigation. El Salvador’s wide-sweeping anti-corruption investigation, Catedral, is closing in on Bukele’s inner circle.
Colombia’s financial regulator Jorge Castaño will likely stay in his role at the Finance Ministry in spite of new appointments coming from president Gustavo Petro. Castaño favors a highly regulated blockchain sector that accommodates big banks and heads Colombia’s crypto banking pilot.
In Perú, the financial regulator is trying to apply increased AML standards to fintechs. Vodanovic’s Karina Chinguel says that compliance will become more rigorous for financial technology companies.
Brazil’s 2TM laid off around 15% of its workforce. The parent of Brazil’s largest exchange Mercado Bitcoin is among a handful of companies lobbying the Chamber of Deputies to require Brazilian registration for exchanges in forthcoming legislation. Binance - an overseas exchange - opposes the requirement.
Paraguay’s president Mario Abdo Benítez vetoed Fernando Silva Facetti’s bill aimed at formalizing the crypto mining industry based on electricity price concerns. But there’s a competing bill coming from the Technology Ministry that could make its way past the president’s desk.
Argentina’s 50MW Rio Cuarto Bitcoin mining project is advancing. Canadian Bitfarms expects production to come online in Q2 of 2023.