I hope everyone is having a great Friday. Thanks again for reading.
For those who missed it earlier this week, we wrote about the Honduras Bitcoin rumor and Nayib Bukele’s plans for Central America.
Besides that, here are several things we think you need to know from the last several days:
Argentina’s congress approved a $45bn loan with the IMF. The deal might prove useful for the country’s macroeconomics but language in the deal dissuades the government from being overly accommodating with Bitcoin and crypto.
La Nación has a good story on Argentina’s Casa Voltaire, the hacker house where Muun, a Lightning Network wallet, and other Buenos Aires crypto inventions got their start.
Brazil’s central bank is reportedly setting up an instant payment transfer system. Colombia is adopting a similar setup too.
Mexico is on the front lines of Coinbase’s international expansion. The company is using the USDC stablecoin to target Mexico’s remittance market - not Tether’s USDT.
El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele insists that the delay in his country’s $1bn volcano bond is because his government is prioritizing an urgent pension reform instead. The volcano bonds were supposed to be issued between 15 and 20 March.
Bukele lashed out at the US government for framing his Bitcoin policy as a threat to the US financial system. Ricardo Salinas Pliego aligned with him against the US policy, calling it “interference.”
Bitcoin investors Salinas and CZ visit El Salvador this week. Top diplomat Milena Mayorga told local Salvadoran press that Binance’s CZ is interested in Bitcoin City and Surf City.
Ex-Blockstream’s Samson Mow took Salinas Pliego to visit LaGEO’s Bitcoin mining operation as part of the visit. The two had earlier discussed a know-how exchange over Twitter.
In Guatemala, the Lago Bitcoin project in Atitlan is borrowing from Mike Peterson’s Bitcoin Beach Project.
Colombia’s congress lost two pro-crypto members during mid-term elections held on 13 March. Green Alliance’s Mauricio Toro and Democratic Center’s Edward Rodriguez, both of whom lobbied for crypto innovative policies, failed to gain spots in the country’s 2022-2026 congress.
In Colombia, crypto transactions over USD$150 must be reported to the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF). The measure aligns with Argentina’s new rule of requiring exchanges to report data to the central government’s UIF.
Thank you for reading.