🌎Latam Crypto Report #14: Bancolombia launches Wenia crypto exchange
Also: El Salvador introduces proof-of-reserves; Venezuela announces crypto mining ban
¡Hola a todos! 👋
Welcome back to 🌎Latam Crypto Report, where contributor Kristin Majcher rounds up and digests the biggest crypto stories in the region during the back half of April and front half of May 2024.
In this edition, we’ll cover:
Leading Colombian bank Bancolombia launching a crypto exchange through its Bermuda-licensed subsidiary Wenia
El Salvador launching a proof-of-reserves website
Venezuela planning to ban crypto mining due to energy concerns
Whether you’ve been getting this newsletter for a while or just joining us this week, we want to thank you for reading. If you like what you see here, please smash the “subscribe” button below and share with your colleagues. Also, feel free to follow Kristin on Twitter and LinkedIn to share any crypto news or say hello.
And now, let’s jump right into the top crypto stories from the past few weeks.
Bancolombia launches new crypto exchange
Bancolombia, Colombia’s biggest bank, launched a crypto exchange through its subsidiary Wenia earlier this month.
The bank has shown interest in crypto for years, and launched a pilot project with Gemini in 2021 as part of Colombia’s regulated sandbox. Now, it is offering its own crypto exchange for Colombians through its subsidiary Wenia, a separate company licensed in Bermuda.
As Bancolombia Group President Juan Carlos Mora stated:
“As an organization, we have been working for almost a decade on the opportunity to create solutions that facilitate the adoption and use of digital assets and blockchain technology. As a result of this, we responded quickly to the adoption of Bitcoin in El Salvador.”
Bancolombia is launching Wenia with digital asset infrastructure provider AlphaPoint.
Wenia is separate company from Bancolombia, but a subsidiary of the same parent group. It “operates under a Class F license granted by the Bermuda Monetary Authority,” AlphaPoint said in a press release.
Wenia’s website says users will be able to trade digital assets including bitcoin, ether, Polygon’s Matic, USD Coin (USDC) and a new Colombian peso stablecoin CopW (Colombian Peso Wrapped) that operates on the Polygon network.
Wenia hopes to sign up more than 60,000 users in its first year of operations, according to a post on Bancolombia’s website about the news.
(Forbes Colombia, Contxto, Portal do Bitcoin, Cointelegraph, Criptofacil)
El Salvador introduces proof-of-reserves website
More than two years after making bitcoin legal tender, El Salvador’s Bitcoin Office has launched a proof-of-reserves website showing how much of the digital currency the government holds at any given time and the transactions its treasury makes.
The announcement is especially significant considering that El Salvador recently revealed it had more bitcoin than previously thought, and the exact amount of its bitcoin holdings had been unclear. At the time of this report, El Salvador held 5,758.76 BTC worth nearly $400 million.
(Cointelegraph, CriptoFacil, Livecoins, Portal do Bitcoin, BeInCrypto)
Venezuela bans crypto mining over energy grid concerns
In a developing story, Venezuela’s government said it plans to disconnect all crypto mining farms from the power grid over electricity concerns. The news comes after authorities seized more than 2,300 mining machines, local outlet Últimas Noticias reported. Meanwhile, crypto is playing a leading role in an ongoing corruption case involving Venezuela’s state oil company.
Venezuela said it plans to disconnect all crypto mining farms in the country from the power grid to avoid high electricity usage, Voice of America (VOA) reported.
Venezuela’s power ministry on social media announced it would be disconnecting crypto mining farms.
Non-governmental crypto association Asonacrip encouraged people and companies with installed crypto mining equipment to disconnect and store it. “We do not consider that this has a solution in the medium or short term,” it said in a Spanish-language X post.
(Cointelegraph, BeInCrypto, Voice of America, CriptoNoticias, Ámbito, El País)
🗞 Latin America Crypto News Rundown
Regional News
Here’s where we break down Latin America crypto headlines from the past few weeks, organized by country and region. If you don’t see a country listed, it’s simply due to the news flow during a particular week.
Bitso published research on the potential impact of cryptocurrencies on elections in Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. (BeInCrypto)
South America
🇦🇷 Argentina
Mercado Libre’s founder and Argentina’s richest man Marcos Galperín shared his optimistic take on bitcoin in an interview with The Economist. (The Economist, Cointelegraph, Infobae, El Cronista)
Worldcoin, the blockchain project that scans people’s irises in exchange for crypto, is booming in Argentina in light of 288% annual inflation. (Rest of World, Infobae)
Meanwhile, Buenos Aires’ provincial government accused Worldcoin of putting “abusive clauses” in its contracts. The company faces a fine equivalent to more than $1 million. (Buenos Aires Herald, BeInCrypto, CriptoFacil, CriptoNoticias, Infobae)
A subsidiary of Argentina’s state oil and gas company YPF has partnered with bitcoin mining company Genesis Digital Assets (GDA) to power a new data center. “The Bajo del Toro Thermal Power Plant, composed of YPF, Equinor and YPF Luz, will power 1,200 bitcoin mining machines and efficiently monetize stranded gas, which would otherwise be flared into the atmosphere,” a GDA press release states. (Cointelegraph, CriptoFacil, CriptoFacil, Bitcoin Magazine)
Hundreds of federal police officers carried out 64 raids across the country related to a cybercriminal organization that allegedly infected the computers of various companies and organizations and drained their bank accounts to buy USDT. (La Nación, Portal do Bitcoin)
🇨🇱 Chile
Chile’s central bank recently published its second update on its progress in exploring a central bank digital currency (CBDC). (Publimetro, CriptoNoticias, Finance Magnates)
🇨🇴 Colombia
Colombia’s National Electoral Council is investigating whether individuals involved in a crypto scam known as Daily COP had links to President Gustavo Petro’s campaign financing. (Semana, El Tiempo, DW, El Espectador, El Colombiano, Portal do Bitcoin, El País, Infobae)
🇵🇾 Paraguay
Last month, Paraguayan senators reconsidered a proposal to ban crypto mining to look at the potential financial benefits for the country. (Cointelegraph, CriptoFacil, BeInCrypto)
Paraguay’s national police force announced on X that it had arrested a 23-year-old woman accused of having hundreds of stolen bitcoin mining machines. (Portal do Bitcoin)
Cointelegraph Brasil recently held an hour-long discussion about the state of bitcoin in Paraguay. (Cointelegraph)
🇸🇷 Suriname
Bitcoiner Maya Parbhoe is running for president. (CriptoFacil)
🇻🇪 Venezuela
Venezuela’s former oil minister and former vice president Tareck El Aissami was arrested. He has been accused of having used crypto to steal money from Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA. Venezuela’s attorney general said he “had conspired with PDVSA executives and officials at the Venezuelan government agency overseeing cryptocurrency to steal hundreds of millions of dollars,” BBC reported. (BBC, DW, The Guardian)
Voice of America examines the role crypto could have in Venezuela’s future. (Voice of America)
Reuters reported that Venezuela was planning to increase its digital currency usage including Tether as the U.S. reimposed oil sanctions on the country. Tether told the news outlet that it “is committed to working to ensure sanction addresses are frozen promptly” in accordance with the U.S. Treasury’s sanctions list. (Reuters, Exame, Portal do Bitcoin, CriptoFacil, CoinDesk, InfoMoney, Cointelegraph)
Central America & Mexico
🇸🇻 El Salvador
El Salvador has mined nearly 474 bitcoins with geothermal energy since 2021, Reuters reported. (Reuters, InfoMoney, Cointelegraph, CriptoFacil, Portal do Bitcoin)
Bitfinex Securities El Salvador announced that it launched a tokenized debut issuance meant to fund the construction of a new Hampton by Hilton airport hotel. (BeInCrypto, CoinDesk, Cointelegraph, Exame)
🇲🇽 Mexico
Crypto is not expected to be a main issue in Mexico’s upcoming presidential election. (CoinDesk)
🇨🇷Costa Rica
The Tico Times examines whether Costa Rica is becoming a growing crypto hub. (The Tico Times)