Bitcoin in Spanish is the weekly newsletter of CriptoNoticias in which we review the most important facts related to bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and blockchains in the Hispanic world.
Information related to the Paraguayan ecosystem was among the highlights of the week.
The approval in Congress of a bill that sets rules for bitcoin mining in the South American country it is a fact that highlights the advances made in Latin America in terms of regulation.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the region, they met the controversial statements of the Mexican businessman Ricardo Salinas Pliego, who attacked the central banks. The self-proclaimed bitcoiner strongly questioned the policies followed by the European Central Bank and the US Fed.
To go to the detail of the news of each Spanish-speaking country, during the past week, we leave you the most recent Bitcoin in Spanish.
Argentina
This week, the national deputy Gerardo Milman, from Together for Change, presented a bill that proposes removing two zeros from the peso.
If this project is approved, 100 Argentine pesos would become equivalent to 1 peso, a measure that would prove the constant devaluation of the Argentine monetary system and that inflation is out of control.
The initiative results similar to the one taken in the middle of last year in Venezuela, when they removed six zeros from their currency, the bolivar. Something that undoubtedly highlights the economic decline of both countries, where the use of cryptocurrencies emerges to take refuge from inflation and devaluation.
Huobi, one of the leading bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, has acquired the Bitex exchange platform from Argentina, which also has a presence in Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.
The information was revealed by both companies through a press release in which it is stated that the company seeks to expand its presence in a rapidly growing region. They thus highlight the potential of the Latin American market for its high levels of cryptocurrency adoption.
They explained that Bitex will retain its brand and continue to be managed independently by its current team.
Meanwhile, Matías Dajcz, vice president of the Select section of the Argentine exchange Ripio, presented his new platform to the media for large investors from Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Mexico, the United States and Spain.
The meeting served to discuss how the company experiences the current bear market. Different members of the team spoke of a considerable increase in companies and large investors interested in trading cryptocurrencies, despite falling prices.
This is due, as they explained, to the fact that they view the withdrawal as an investment opportunity, savings or facilitator of some payments.
Colombia
The presidential elections held on May 29 in Colombia left two candidates as winners: Gustavo Petro and Rodolfo Hernández, who they will meet in a second round next June.
CriptoNoticias reviewed the position of both candidates regarding cryptocurrencies. In previous statements to the media, the two candidates have stated what they think about digital assets.
Thus, while Petro believes that bitcoin can power a new world from Colombia, Hernández prefers not to talk about an asset that, according to him, loses value.
The Savior
The Francisco Gavidia University (UFG), a private university based in San Salvador, conducted a survey to find out what the citizens of that country think about the use of bitcoin as a payment method.
The results show that of ten Salvadorans six are against the decision of the Nayib government Bukele to use bitcoin as a second national currency.
The results also indicate that the responses of the Salvadoran people to the survey highly dependent on age and educational level. It was mainly people over 65 years of age and those with a lower level of education who claimed to “not know exactly what bitcoin is” and who mostly spoke out against its adoption.
Mexico
Tether Operations Limited, an issuer of the stablecoin tether USD (USDT), announced the launch of a digital currency anchored to the value of the Mexican peso.
Through a statement, the company explained that the new token -identified as MXNT- will maintain parity with the national currency of Mexicoa country from which the “multi-million dollar flow of remittances” stands out.
Tether believes that this fact, in addition to a series of difficulties involved with money transfers, have created a unique opportunity for the use and adoption of stablecoins.
MXNT will have support in three blockchain networks: Ethereum, Tron and Polygon. The stablecoin joins Tether’s offer of fiat currency parity currencies, which in addition to its dollarized version (USDT) has a currency pegged to the euro (EURT) and another to the Chinese yuan (CNHT).
In this context, the Mexican billionaire, Ricardo Salinas Pliego, lashed out against central banks and their managers.
«Christine Lagarde, from the European Central Bank, is a fraudster, she is a thief and it must be said, because under her management purchasing power is being expropriated of all Europeans”, criticized the businessman.
He thinks the same of Jerome Powell, president of the United States Federal Reserve, whom he called a “fraudster” because “in the last two years he has created twice as much money as was in circulation.”
The criticisms of the central bankers were issued by Salinas Pliego after referring to inflation and its consequences.
Panama
Towerbank, one of the top 30 financial institutions in Panama, has declared itself a “friendly bank” with bitcoin.
Their representatives are inviting bitcoiners to open their accounts in the entity. They promise that they will not suffer blockages, closures or other setbacks that Panamanian citizens usually report from banking when they carry out operations with cryptocurrencies.
Towerbank product vice president, Gabriel Campa, assured that Towerbank is studying the bitcoin ecosystem. “And we hope to have something soon to offer our customers,” she said during the meeting attended by about 50 people. As part of the study, the bank is launching its account crypto-friendly to have an approach with cryptocurrency users.
Paraguay
The bill to regulate bitcoin mining in Paraguay was approved on May 25 by the Lower House of Congress.
The regulations, which seeks to take advantage of surplus energy of the South American country to mine bitcoin, had already been approved last December by the Senate. Now it is moving forward after being discussed in plenary, as reported by Paraguayan deputy Carlos Rejala.
The bill establishes the bases to regulate cryptocurrency tradingthe custody and administration of digital assets and especially bitcoin mining at an industrial level.
The document proposes that miners, whether individuals or legal entities, request authorization for the consumption of industrial electricity and then opt for a license.
According to a group of miners consulted by CriptoNoticias, if enacted, the law will promote large-scale bitcoin mining and will put Paraguay on the map as a provider of cheap energy to mine cryptocurrencies.
Venezuela
The National Superintendency of Cryptoactives (Sunacrip) of Venezuela took a new step to regulate the use of cryptocurrency exchanges, wallet providers and P2P platforms.
According to what is stated in ruling 054 published on the agency’s website, the aforementioned platforms that operate without regulation they must collect and share the personal data of their customers.
The objective is to comply with the recommendations of the International Financial Action Task Force (FATF), linked to the fight against money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, through the use of cryptocurrencies.
It is worth noting that the providence of Sunacrip is not published in the Official Gazette, which in theory means that it should not be strictly enforced. Even so, it is important that Venezuelan users are aware of their remarks.
On the other hand, investment researcher and BTC enthusiast Lyn Alden, co-founder of bitcoin-backed lending platform Ledn, told on Twitter the story of Mauricio Di Bartolomeo.
Is about a Venezuelan who managed to emigrate from his country to Canada, thanks to bitcoin. Something that warns that he could not have done with fiat money (such as bolívares or dollars), gold, stocks or real estate.
He explained that Mauricio mined bitcoin and kept the yields saved in Venezuela. This decision allowed him to preserve the value of his money in a portable, confiscation-resistant and self-custodial way.
events of the week
Among the events related to bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and blockchains in the region for this week, the following stand out in the CriptoNoticias calendar:
Thursday June 2: Streaming webinar “Introductory talk on bitcoin and blockchain 2022”, organized by NGO Bitcoin Argentina.
Businesses that accept cryptocurrencies in Spanish-speaking countries
- SOCIETYFARM (Pharmacy in Arequipa, Peru)
- Boutique Hotel(San Bernardo Del Tuyu, Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina)
- Video Marketing Agency (Store in Chile)
- Ceci’s Grilled Delights (restaurant, Salinas, Ecuador)
- Destinations Tours travel and ecotourism (travel agency, Colombia)
- JAM Services (Maxikiosko in Misiones, Argentina)
- Taqueria Cinco The Downtown (Restaurant, Veracruz, Mexico)
- intuition (Clothing store in Caracas, Venezuela)
- Congo monkey (Coffee in Dominical, Costa Rica)
- farm (Pharmacy in Dominical, Costa Rica)
- The Seventy Crepes (restaurant in Bogota, Colombia)
Do you know or have a small business that accepts bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for its products and services?
We invite you to share the information with us through [email protected]. We will inform about the adoption of cryptocurrencies of that business in some of the Spanish-speaking countries.