I hope you are having a great Friday. Thanks again for reading Barracuda.
Earlier this week I wrote about:
Here are some of the most important updates on Bitcoin, Crypto and Digital Infrastructure policy, power and politics from this past week.
Mexican senator Indira Kempis is actually not proposing an El Salvador-style bitcoin legalization. She wants to add some riders onto an existing Fintech Law and reform the virtual asset side of it.
Mexico’s Ricardo Salinas Pliego thinks Kempis’ bill will face significant challenges in congress. He talks up Bitcoin in Mexico at Miami here.
Mexico’s Banxico wants to regulate crypto. It also wants to make sure that the right controls are in place to combat money laundering.
In El Salvador, remittances to digital wallets make up 1.5% of the total remittance market. Nayib Bukele’s Chivo Wallet has faced significant technical problems over the past six month.
Binance is hiring ‘a few hundred’ people in El Salvador. The exchange’s CEO CZ is answering the country’s security problem by targeting youth at risk of getting recruited by gangs.
A group of Guatemalans and Samson Mow want to make Bitcoin a foreign currency. It appears this is very much in the idea stage and so far, there’s no clear lawmaker who wants to bring a crypto bill to congress.
Panama’s crypto bill is advancing to a second debate in congress. Gabriel Silva is the lawmaker who authored the bill.
Venezuela’s Theo Toukoumidis claims miners are producing 2 exahash with 500MW of electricity capacity. Carabobo, Puerto Ordaz, and Barquisimeto. The owner of DoctorMiner says that access to financing and capital in the sanctioned country is choking the crypto mining industry there.
Crypto exchange Ripio is opening Bogotá offices. The Argentine exchange is active in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico already. Colombia is Ripio’s next target.
The town Seradino in Argentina is mining Bitcoin to reinvest in infrastructure. Mayor Juan Pio Drovetta is leading the charge. His town, he says, needs railways.
Alberto Fernandez’ government is advancing crypto regulations. It is quietly setting up a Fintech and Crypto agency inside the CNV, the country’s stock market regulator.
Brazilian lawmakers are weighing legislation to legalize and regulate crypto. The bill has passed its first hurdle in Brazil’s lower chamber. If passed, the president would get to appoint a regulator and an agency for crypto.
Brazilian exchange Mercado Bitcoin is expanding across Latin America. Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Peru and Chile are on the list. The exchange was bought by Coinbase Ventures in March.