Mexico's central bank digital currency (CBDC) development is still in an initial phase, and it is unlikely to be ready for launch by 2024. According to local media reports, Mexico's central bank, known as Banxico, is currently working on legal, administrative, and technological requirements for the peso's digital version. The first of three stages for the proposed launch timeline. In December 2021, the local government announced its plan to introduce a national digital currency, noting on a Twitter post that the "new technologies and next-generation payment infrastructure" would improve Mexico's financial inclusion and project the launch for 2024. A year …

Interest in Web3 continues to grow despite the crypto bear market. A recent article from McKinsey noted that venture capital investments in Web3 exceeded $18 billion during the first half of 2022. Findings from Cointelegraph Research also show that Web3 attracted the most interest from venture capitalists in comparison to other blockchain sectors during Q2 of this year. While notable, a lack of diversity has become apparent within the Web3 sector. For instance, it was found that only 16% of nonfungible token (NFT) creators are women. Although this number is low, women are taking an interest in owning digital assets. …

Remittance payments, fiat fears, and profit-chasing have been the three most significant drivers of crypto adoption in Latin America, according to a new report. The seventh-largest crypto market in the world saw the value of cryptocurrencies received by individuals rocket 40% between July 2021 to June 2022, reaching $562 billion, according to an Oct. 20 report from Chainalysis. Part of the surge was attributed to remittances, with the region's overall remittance market estimated to have reached $150 billion in 2022. Chainalysis noted that crypto-based service adoption was “uneven, but swift.” The firm pointed to one Mexican exchange operating in the …

Mexico is the second-largest recipient of remittances in the world, according to 2021 World Bank statistics. Remittances to the nation jumped to a record $5.3 billion in July, which is a 16.5% increase year-over-year compared to the same period last year. The steady growth presents myriad opportunities for fintech companies. Not surprisingly, droves of crypto companies are setting up shop in Mexico to claim a share of the burgeoning remittance market. Over the past year alone, about half a dozen crypto giants, including Coinbase, have set up operations in the country. In February, Coinbase unveiled a crypto transfer service tailored …

Amid market issues surrounding stablecoins, Tether (USDT) launched a new digital asset that will be pegged to the Mexican peso on Ethereum (ETH), Tron (TRX) and Polygon (MATIC) networks. In an announcement sent to Cointelegraph on Thursday, Tether mentioned that the token will have the MXNT ticker and will join Tether's roster of fiat-pegged stablecoins that includes dollar-pegged USDT, euro-pegged EURT and Chinese yuan-pegged CNHT. Citing data that reports blockchain and crypto demand among Mexican companies, the stablecoin issuer believes that there's a unique opportunity to provide a cheaper option for asset transfer within the region. According to Tether's chief …

Mexico's Senate building now houses the country's 14th Bitcoin (BTC) ATM, a sign of the country's increasing interest in Bitcoin. The ATM was installed on Tuesday with the support of several legislators, including Miguel Angel Mancera, head of the parliamentary group of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). Senator and outspoken crypto enthusiast Indira Kempis shared her excitement at the development on Twitter, stating that it was "for freedom, inclusion and financial education in Mexico." Por la libertad, inclusión y educación financiera en México.#ToTheMoon @senadomexicano pic.twitter.com/QytQn58A3i — Indira Kempis de I. (@IndiraKempis) April 26, 2022 According to Coin ATM …

During the Bitcoin 2022 Conference in Miami, Florida, Cointelegraph caught up with Ricardo Salinas, the founder and chairman at Grupo Salinas, in an exclusive sit-down interview. As an early Bitcoin (BTC) adopter, since its $200 days, Salinas has experienced first-hand the highs and lows of the market, and learned a thing or two along the way. Salinas started off the day as a panelist at the main stage of the Miami Beach Convention Center among fellow billionaires Orlando Bravo, Marcelo Claure and Dan Tapiero. In a discussion titled "Bitcoin Billionaire Capital Allocators," Salinas disclosed that 60% of his portfolio is …

Coinbase is set to continue its global acquisition strategy, reportedly buying the Brazilian company 2TM, the parent company of Mercado Bitcoin. According to information from Estadão, the third-largest newspaper read by Brazil’s 212 million populace, the Coinbase acquisition could be complete by next month. Negotiations for the purchase have been taking place over the course of 2022. Mercado Bitcoin is Latin America’s largest crypto brokerage, whose parent company, 2TM cemented its unicorn status as a billion-dollar company in 2021. Valued at $2.2 billion, 2TM has also pursued an acquisition strategy, particularly in lusophone countries. 2TM’s Mercado Bitcoin snapped up Portuguese …

Amid El Salvador reporting on cases of the positive impact of the country’s Bitcoin (BTC) adoption, a government official in Mexico has once again urged that the country should follow El Salvador’s example on Bitcoin. Indira Kempis, a senator representing Nuevo León state, is confident that Bitcoin should be legal tender in Mexico because Bitcoin adoption can potentially drive global financial inclusion. The senator is now developing a cryptocurrency bill based on El Salvador’s “Bitcoin Law.” She expects to introduce the bill to the Mexican Congress this year, Kempis said in an interview with El Salvador In English publication after …

Bitso, a major Latin American cryptocurrency exchange and El Salvador’s crypto wallet assistant firm, has announced its formal launch in Colombia. As part of Bitso’s development strategy in Colombia, the exchange has hired former Mastercard executive Emilio Pardo as new country manager, the firm announced to Cointelegraph on Thursday. Pardo is former head of business development for the Andean Region at Mastercard, where he focused on fintech issues like instant and cross-border financial transactions and open banking. He will now be responsible for developing Bitso’s strategy in Colombia to increase the local crypto adoption and financial inclusion, focusing on Bitso’s …

On Jan. 30, the South China Morning Post reported that one of the largest Asian pharmaceutical companies, Zuellig, had launched a blockchain-based system to track the quality of COVID-19 vaccines. Called “eZTracker,” it allows any user to “instantly verify the provenance and authenticity” of vaccines by scanning the QR code on the package. Somewhat surprisingly, throughout the pandemic, there have not been many reports of blockchain-based products adopted by big pharma or global healthcare organizations to bolster the anti-COVID effort. Here is a rundown of the major cases of such adoption, along with possible reasons for the limited interest in …

Mexico has announced that it would introduce a new national central bank digital currency (CBDC) in 2024, according to a tweet posted on Thursday. The tweet by an account representing the Mexican presidency highlighted that "new technologies and next-generation payment infrastructure" will help Mexico become more financially inclusive. El @Banxico informa que hacia 2024 tendrá una moneda digital propia en circulación, por considerar de suma importancia estas nuevas tecnologías y la infraestructura de pagos de última generación como opciones de gran valor para avanzar en la inclusión financiera en el país. — Gobierno de México (@GobiernoMX) December 30, 2021 The …