The Uruguayan government has introduced legislation to the parliament, accelerating the regulation of the crypto space in the country and establishing the central bank as the regulatory authority. Introduced on Sept 5, the bill strive to clarify the country's regulatory framework for cryptocurrency assets, stating that all companies that provide digital asset-related services, including initial coin offerings (ICOs) are under the supervision of the Superintendency of Financial Services (SSF), a central bank entity. Cryptocurrency exchanges, custody services, and any financial services relating to these digital assets should also adhere to anti-money laundering regulations and best practices. Additionally, the document defined …

Uruguay has reportedly installed its first Bitcoin (BTC) ATM, making it the 11th South American country to publicly encourage crypto adoption. Prior to Uruguay’s involvement, South America hosted 79 ATMs, which represented 0.2% of global BTC ATM installations. According to Ámbito, Uruguay’s first crypto ATM was installed in the coastal city of Punta del Este, a major tourist attraction in the region. Uruguay’s first Bitcoin ATM was developed and installed in partnership with two local crypto companies — URUBit and inBierto. The crypto ATM in Uruguay currently supports withdrawal and deposits of five cryptocurrencies, namely — BTC, Binance Coin (BNB), …

Uruguayan Senator Juan Sartori has introduced a draft bill to regulate cryptocurrency and enable businesses to accept crypto payments. Sartori joins a growing list of politicians from South American and Spanish-speaking countries who are seeking to bring crypto adoption into the mainstream. The senator is not proposing the use of crypto as legal tender as in El Salvador, however. The crypto-friendly Senator tweeted on Wednesday that “today we present a bill, pioneer in the world, that seeks to establish a legitimate, legal and safe use in businesses related to the production and commercialization of virtual currencies in Uruguay.” The bill …

International journalist and media defender of Bitcoin Max Keiser gave a presentation at Labitconf in Montevideo, Uruguay, in which he explained the impact that cryptocurrencies generate in the global scenario and particularly in the Latin American region. With a talk entitled "Why Bitcoin Matters in Emerging Markets," Keiser took the stage in his casual style, with a sports jacket and shorts, but mainly with a very critical tone towards trust money and the traditional economic and financial system. Keiser stressed that Bitcoin's first function is to clean up the mess left in the world by fiat money. One of the …

The Spanish-speaking world is seeing additional cryptocurrency and blockchain developments with the inauguration of a new blockchain campus at a Madrid university, a number of new allegations of crypto scams in the Dominican Republic, Mexico issuing professional certificates on blockchain and Æternity blockchain teaming up with the Digital Party of Uruguay. Here is the past week of crypto and blockchain news in review, with original reporting from Cointelegraph en Español. Blockchain campus at Madrid university gets inaugurated On Oct. 1, Cointelegraph en Español reported that a new blockchain campus was inaugurated at the headquarters of the Higher Technical School of …

Spanish-speaking countries made headlines this week, with cryptocurrency and blockchain-related developments on both the governmental and enterprise level. The Congress of the Republic of Peru spoke about the potential of blockchain tech, blockchain firm Aeternity revealed the development of a network that enables the management of the supply chain of medical cannabis, Venezuela’s central bank explored the possibilities of holding crypto in its coffers, and a subsidiary of Argentinian smart contract platform RSK purchased Latin America’s social media giant Taringa. Here is the past week of crypto and blockchain news in review, as originally reported by Cointelegraph en Español. The …

The Spanish-speaking world is seeing major cryptocurrency and blockchain developments with Uruguay approving a new bill that could be applied positively to initial coin offerings (ICOs), Cuba using crypto to access the global economy and Venezuela finally installing its first Bitcoin (BTC) ATM. Here is the past week of crypto and blockchain news in review, as originally reported by Cointelegraph en Español. Argentinian Bitex stops accepting balance charges in U.S. dollars Cointelegraph en Español reported on Sept. 12, that the economic crisis in Argentina is now taking its toll on the country’s cryptocurrency operations. The Bitex firm, a blockchain financial …

Bitcoin (BTC) exchange Bitex has partnered with Uruguay-based financial software company Bantotal in order to expand it cross-border payments system on the Bitcoin blockchain to Latin America. CoinDesk announced the companies’ new partnership in a report on Aug. 13. According to the report, the upshot of this partnership is that Bantotal’s clients will have access to Bitex’s exchange services via a marketplace that hosts traditional financial services in its BDevelopers program. Per the report, Bitex will act as a middleman service for cross-border payments. The exchange’s role is to convert from fiat currency to BTC, and then back to fiat …

A new report published on Jan. 8 by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has found that seventy percent of central banks worldwide are conducting research into central bank digital currency (CBDC) issuance. However, concrete plans for implementation and motivations vary considerably across contexts. The BIS is an organization based in Switzerland made up of 60 of the world’s central banks, and has to date devoted a number of major reports to both decentralized cryptocurrencies and CBDCs. The latter are distinct from the former in that they are digital currencies issued by a central bank, whose legal tender status depends …