🌎Latam Crypto Report #15: Paraguay Strengthens Illegal Mining Crackdown
Also: Nubank to implement bitcoin Lightning Network; Bolivia reverses crypto ban for financial institutions
Hola a todos! 👋
Welcome back to 🌎Latam Crypto Report, where contributor Kristin Majcher rounds up and digests the biggest crypto stories in the region. We’ll cover the biggest news from late May through June.
In this edition, we’ll cover:
Paraguay strengthening its crackdown on illegal crypto mining operations
News that Nubank is working with Lightspark to integrate the Bitcoin Lightning Network
The Bolivian central bank’s decision to reverse a 2020 crypto ban for financial institutions
Whether you’ve been receiving this newsletter for a while or just joining us this week, we want to thank you for reading. If you like what you see, please hit the “subscribe” button below and share it with your colleagues. Also, feel free to follow Kristin on Twitter and LinkedIn to share any crypto news or say hello.
Latam Crypto Report is presented by
Kaleido is the most trusted digital assets and blockchain company by enterprises. Their product suite is the ultimate business blockchain cloud and is rated #1 for tokenization and #1 for blockchain-as-a-service. Kaleido is powered by open source, supports multiple protocols, connects to permissioned and public chains, and lets you utilize any smart contract. Tokenizing assets in a scalable and interoperable way has never been easier.
Built by veterans of IBM Blockchain and Consensys, the Kaleido platform combines turnkey functionality with enterprise-grade security and scalability to power your application — whether it be in banking and financial services, supply chain, media, government & public sector, or central bank digital currencies.
Learn more and try it free at Kaleido.io
Paraguay Strengthens Illegal Mining Crackdown
Paraguay has featured heavily in the region’s news this month, with authorities reportedly seizing thousands of machines as the government tries to crack down on clandestine crypto mining operations illegally siphoning electricity.
Paraguayan authorities have been focused on raiding illegal crypto-mining operations in recent months, with CoinTelegraph reporting on May 31 that the government had seized 2,738 crypto-mining units in a recent bust.
Bitcoin.com also reported on May 24 that more than 550 machines had been seized in two raids.
The country’s national grid operator (ANDE) said it had already lost about $8.7 million in 2024 alone due to these illegal connections, local newspaper Última Hora reported in late May.
The government is reportedly using artificial intelligence (AI) as a method to find these farms, Portal do Bitcoin said.
CriptoNoticias reported that the government is now investigating whether any ANDE officials or contractors could have been involved in installing the clandestine farms.
As tensions rise, Paraguay’s Senate recently approved a proposal to implement a penalty of up to 10 years in jail for anyone found to be running these illegal mining operations. The measure has passed to the Chamber of Deputies for consideration, Portal do Bitcoin reported.
(Portal do Bitcoin, Cointelegraph, The Miner Mag, CriptoNoticias)
Nubank To Integrate Bitcoin Lightning Network
Latin America-based fintech Nubank partnered with infrastructure company Lightspark to work on integrating the Bitcoin Lightning Network.
Nubank parent company Nu Holdings said the agreement “aims to evolve the Nu app in the future by incorporating new blockchain-based features or services.”
Engineering teams from both companies will work together to integrate Lightning and “explore the possibilities for new blockchain solutions through Universal Money Addresses (UMA),” Nu added.
“We’re working with the Nu team on exploring synergies, starting the integration, mapping, and building potential products, and we’ll have more to share in the future,” Lightspark stated.
Nubank, which offers crypto trading in addition to services such as credit cards and personal loans, now counts more than 100 million customers in Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia.
(Cointelegraph, The Street, Nubank Press Release, Lightspark Press Release, Bitcoin Magazine, BeInCrypto)
Bolivia Reverses Longstanding Crypto Ban
Bolivia’s Central Bank reversed a 2020 resolution to prohibit financial institutions from using cryptocurrencies. The South American country has been grappling with a dollar shortage.
While Bolivia’s central bank has issued statements banning crypto as far back as 2014, Central Bank of Bolivia President Edwin Rojas said this resolution supports the country’s goal of modernizing its payment system.
The measure allows for the licit purchase and sale of digital assets through so-called Electronic Payment Instruments (IEP for their Spanish acronym). However, the resolution reiterates that the boliviano is the country’s only legal tender.
“Although the resolution allows the use of IEP for the purchase and sale of crypto assets, it is crucial to wait for the specific regulations that will surely be issued by the Financial System Supervision Authority (ASFI) and the Financial Investigations Unit (UIF),” Bolivian law firm Moreno Baldivieso wrote in a Spanish-language update following the news.
The annulment was announced on June 26, the same day that an unsuccessful coup d’état was attempted by a former Bolivian army commander.
(Opinión, CriptoNoticias, DiarioBitcoin, BeInCrypto, Bloomberg Law, Cointelegraph, Livecoins)
🗞 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.
Mastercard’s Crypto Credential alias service made its first pilot transactions, with users in several Latin American countries being among the first that will have access. These include Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay, as well as France, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland. (Mastercard, Finance Magnates, The Block, Bitcoin Magazine)
Crypto pyramid schemes are booming in Latin America, Connectas reports. (Connectas)
“The capital markets of the future will be based on blockchain,” Ripio CEO Sebastián Serrano told Bloomberg in a recent interview. (Bloomberg)
Crypto data analytics firm Kaiko found that Latin America’s crypto users prefer stablecoins in a new report. (Bitcoin.com)
South America
🇦🇷 Argentina
Argentina’s President Javier Milei met with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and the Worldcoin team in California. (CriptoFacil, Forbes Argentina, Cointelegraph)
A few weeks later, Worldcoin announced that it picked Argentina as a regional hub, saying it would increase investment and expand its operations there. The project has attracted regulatory scrutiny in Argentina and other countries. (Worldcoin, CriptoFacil, Bitcoin.com)
About 35 crypto companies formalized their registrations to become digital asset service providers. (CriptoFacil, Portal do Bitcoin)
Argentina’s securities regulator (CNV) met with the head of El Salvador’s new digital assets commission. (Cointelegraph, Livecoins, CriptoFacil)
Bitfarms saw its crypto mining revenue fall 42% in May, Cointelegraph reported, citing halving and “unusually cold temperatures” at its Rio Cuarto facility. (Cointelegraph)
Argentina’s crypto community hopes to create a “Blockchain Valley” in Buenos Aires as part of an initiative called Crecimiento. (The Defiant)
Crypto use is especially popular in Patagonia, data from the platform Lemon showed. (CriptoNoticias)
🇨🇱 Chile
Chile is among the countries with the fastest-growing crypto adoption, a report from the company Triple-A found. (América Económica)
🇨🇴 Colombia
Worldcoin has landed in Colombia, and regulators there are keeping a close eye on its operations. (BeInCrypto, El Tiempo, El Espectador, Cointelegraph)
Stablecoin platform El Dorado finished a $3 million seed round as it works to create a “super app” for Latin American crypto payments, CoinDesk reported. Multicoin led the round, with participation from Coinbase Ventures and others. (CoinDesk, Forbes Colombia)
Portafolio gives an update on how Colombia’s crypto regulations are shaping up. (Portafolio)
The small municipality of Usiacurí will adopt crypto payments for things like artisanal goods, hotels, and restaurants to support tourism, Semana reported. (Semana, CriptoNoticias, BeInCrypto)
🇪🇨 Ecuador
Worldcoin has also arrived in Ecuador, with its orb-scanning devices debuting in Quito and Guayaquil. (CriptoNoticias, BeInCripto, Primicias)
🇵🇾 Paraguay
Paraguay has a new crypto mining chamber, the Cámara Paraguaya de Minería de Activos Digitales (Capamad). (CriptoNoticias)
Banco Itaú is reportedly studying the possibility of offering digital asset services in Paraguay. (Cointelegraph Brasil, Forbes Paraguay)
Paraguay’s government and the Latin American Lithium Chamber (Calbamerica) agreed to tokenize lithium mining. (BeInCrypto, Periferia)
🇵🇪 Peru
Peru’s data protection authority opened an investigation into Worldcoin focused on its biometric data collection methods after the project launched there in May. (Portal do Bitcoin, CriptoFacil, Cointelegraph)
🇻🇪 Venezuela
About 20,000 Venezuelan crypto users got caught up in an alleged Ponzi scheme, BeInCrypto reported. (BeInCrypto, Diario Avance)
Central America & Mexico
🇸🇻 El Salvador
Pro-bitcoin President Nayib Bukele was sworn in for a second term. (Cointelegraph, Reuters)
Bukele proposed creating a bitcoin-friendly investment bank in El Salvador with fewer restrictions than traditional financial institutions, Cointelegraph reported. (Cointelegraph, Exame, Portal do Bitcoin)
Nearly 80.5% of the Salvadoran population says that bitcoin has not significantly improved living conditions in the country, according to a survey conducted by Central American University. (Cointelegraph Brasil, O Globo)
🇲🇽 Mexico
The U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) highlighted crypto in an advisory to businesses about illegal fentanyl production. (CoinDesk)
Helium, the wireless network built on the Solana blockchain, partnered with LongFi Solutions to expand in Mexico. (BeInCrypto, Helium Network)
🇨🇷 Costa Rica
Authorities in Costa Rica dismantled a criminal network dedicated to money laundering and property theft that moved $13 million worth of bitcoin in just one day. (BeInCrypto, AFP)