“Good ideas out of context are like shiny objects lost in a dark field,” American writer Seth Godin once said. “They catch your attention, but have no real utility.” Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Argentine President Alberto Fernández have been making headlines for a proposal to create a common currency between Argentina and Brazil. The idea for a common currency arose about 25 years ago in an article written by two renowned economists and, in the context of the time, made sense. This idea has now been resurrected as a political opportunism play with a hint of …

Argentina’s Ministry of Economy, the country’s economic policy manager, has drafted a bill to encourage Argentines to declare their cryptocurrency holdings with the inducement of discounted tax rates. Aimed at combating money laundering, the “Externalization of Argentine Savings” draft law was introduced by economy minister Sergio Massa according to a Jan. 6 report by local outlet Errepar. The bill would require crypto holders to produce an affidavit — a sworn statement identifying the whereabouts of their holdings to the government. The bill proposes tax incentives to encourage citizens to declare their holdings. Those who voluntarily declare their holdings within 90 …

As of 2022, more than 30 million Brazillian citizens have no bank accounts, and no credit or debit cards. What’s wrong here? For roughly a decade, Brazil has been passing legislation aimed at changing the situation. However, the results have fallen short of expectations. To better understand the reason, let’s take a step back to look at a historical perspective. The Brazilian banking industry has always been extremely concentrated, historically due to the country’s macroeconomic volatility, the bank’s legacy technology and stringent oversight. At one point in time, the regulator needed some reliable “bulwarks” to build the local financial system …

The Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Paraguay's bicameral legislature, failed to move forward on a bill aimed at promoting crypto mining through the use of surplus electricity following a veto from President Mario Abdo Benítez. In a Dec. 5 session, members of Paraguay’s legislature discussed the pros and cons of incentivizing crypto miners to operate in the country with a cap on the electricity rates, but ultimately voted against amendments that would have effectively reversed a presidential veto. Lawmakers suggested a lack of regulation around crypto-related activities had led to events like the downfall of FTX, and highlighted …

As the global crypto community is still licking its wounds from the FTX collapse, a liquidity crisis continues to spread around centralized exchanges and decentralized finance (DeFi) alike. It is soon to be decided whether the coming regulation triggered by FTX’s bankruptcy will bring a silver lining to crypto. The Chamber of Deputies of Brazil, the lower house of the country’s federal legislative body, has passed a regulatory framework that legalizes the use of cryptocurrencies as a payment method within the country. It is estimated that 10 million Brazilians, or about 5% of the population, trade crypto assets. The largest …

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has denied speculation that he’s fled to Argentina as the saga surrounding his collapsed cryptocurrency exchange continued to unfold in near-real time on Twitter. In a text message to Reuters on Nov. 12, Bankman-Fried, who also goes by SBF, said he was still in the Bahamas. When Reuters asked him specifically whether he had flown to Argentina, as the rumors suggest, he responded: “Nope.” Users took to Twitter over the weekend to speculate whether SBF was on the run after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for FTX Group, which includes a slew of companies such as …

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 …

In an Independence Day live streaming event on Sept. 15, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele announced his bid for reelection after his current term ends in 2024. Bukele’s announcement comes even though past presidents in El Salvador were prohibited by law from having consecutive terms in office. The president highlighted that: "Developed countries have reelection, and thanks to the new configuration of the democratic institution of our country, now El Salvador will too." Overall, Bukele shows signs of solid support, as a CID Gallup poll conducted last month revealed an 85% approval rating of his presidency and 95% approval of …

Argentina’s tax authority has seized more than 1,000 cryptocurrency wallets linked to delinquent taxpayers in the country. According to a report from local media outlet iProUP, courts across Argentina authorized the seizure of 1,269 cryptocurrency wallets belonging to citizens with outstanding debt to Argentina’s Federal Administration of Public Income (AFIP). AFIP signaled its intent to go after cryptocurrency wallets belonging to tax delinquents in May, ordering cryptocurrency exchanges and payment service providers to deliver monthly reports on users of their platforms. Crypto services were requested to verify the identity of clients and keep records of user accounts as well as …

In a paper recently published by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), Fabio Araujo, an economist at the Central Bank of Brazil (CBB) who is also responsible for the country’s central bank digital currency work, revealed that the monetary authority will have greater control over the population’s money once its CBDC is rolled out. Through the so-called Real Digital, the central bank will be able to halt bank runs and impose other restrictions on citizens’ access to money. Real Digital, the digital version of Brazil’s national currency, has been debated at the central bank since 2015 and will have its …

El Salvador’s Finance Minister Alejandro Zelaya has said the country will further delay launching its anticipated billion-dollar Bitcoin (BTC) bond, citing price volatility and uncertain market conditions resulting from the ongoing Russia-Ukrainian war. The news comes at the same time that Amnesty International accused the Salvadoran authorities of “flagrant violations of human rights and criminalizing people living in poverty.” In a Wednesday interview on the local “Frente a Frente” (Face-to-Face) news program, Zelaya was asked if the situation with the $1 billion Bitcoin bond issuance from a “few months ago” had changed. “No, not yet, the [Bitcoin] price continues to …

A survey from digital payment company Block Inc. has found that the higher respondents rated their own level of cryptocurrency knowledge, the more optimistic they are about the future of Bitcoin (BTC). Block surveyed more than 9,500 people from the Americas (2,375), EMEA (4,360) and APAC (2,860) regions in January, ensuring to include 100 Bitcoin owners in each region for its 2022 Bitcoin Knowledge and Perceptions Report. The report, released on Tuesday, shows a correlation between optimism and the likelihood of purchasing, and compared the result with the respondent’s self-identified level of knowledge. Of those who identified as having fair …