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 from this week:
Mexican lawmaker Indira Kempis wants to bring the metaverse to a Monterrey university. The lawmaker gave a metaverse presentation at Tec de Monterrey.
Tauros wallet is advancing Lightning Network infrastructure in Mexico. The firm quietly partnered with Guatemala’s IBEX in May of this year.
Venezuelan activist Leopoldo Lopez is promoting Bitcoin as a freedom weapon in authoritarian regimes. He leads Venezuela’s Voluntad Popular party, which stands to benefit from a thawing in relations between Caracas and Washington.
President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele attributed high international tourism levels to Bitcoin and surfing. Tourism is one of the few industries that supports El Salvador GDP.
Simon Dixon’s Bank of The Future is setting up operations in El Salvador. The firm is reportedly capitalized with $6 billion in bitcoin and the project is linked to Max Keiser.
Panama’s Towerbank told clients it would not tolerate mixers. The crypto-friendly bank is trying to avoid fallout from OFAC’s sanctions against Tornado Cash, a mixer.
Mexican Bitso started a remittance service in Colombia using stablecoins. Colombia’s remittance market was $8.56 billion in 2021.
Spanish firm BBVA says that 37% of its Colombian users are interested in buying Bitcoin and other crypto assets. BBVA is not involved in the country’s crypto policy pilot.
Colombia has a new Fintech lobby head. Gabriel Santos will replace Erick Rincón.
Two Bolivian developers launched blockchain projects. They registered the companies in Estonia and Switzerland because of a ban in Bolivia.
Brazil once again postponed debate for a crypto bill in congress. The debate is now scheduled for September. Elections pitting president Jair Bolsonaro against former head of state Lula da Silva are scheduled for October.
Brazil wants to adopt Open Finance for its banking sector. Dell’s Wellington Menegasso is worried that the cyber security is not up to speed.
Brazil’s Federal Police arrested Ricardo Rodrigues Gomes on charges of fraud involving crypto. The former pilot of Colombian drug trafficker Pablo Escobar was an operative for an organized crime ring.
In Argentina, Mastercard found that 23% of Argentines had used crypto assets for transactions. But the payment company’s country manger Federico Cofman denied that there is a massive adoption trend.
The United Nations is pressuring Latin American governments to crack down on opaque crypto exchanges. The multilateral governance agency wants governments in the developing world to tax transactions as well.