Latam Crypto Report #23: Visa and Bridge to Enable Stablecoin-Linked Cards

Also: Panama City to accept crypto tax payments; Bolivia takes key step to regulate fintechs

¡Hola a todos! 👋

Welcome back to the 🌎Latam Crypto Report, where contributor Kristin Majcher compiles and analyzes the biggest crypto stories in the region.

We took a bit of a break last month, but we’re back to round up the latest crypto news out of Latin America. In this edition, we’ll be catching up on the main crypto news between March and the beginning of May.

In this edition, we’ll cover:

• A new partnership between Visa and Bridge that sets the foundation for stablecoin-linked cards in several Latin American countries

• Panama City’s plans to accept crypto for tax payments

• Bolivia’s latest steps to regulate the country’s fintech sector in light of ongoing dollar shortages

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Visa and Bridge to Launch Stablecoin-Linked Cards in Latam

Stablecoins continue to play an important role in Latin America, and a new partnership between Visa and Bridge could make it even easier to spend them. Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure platform that Stripe acquired in February 2025, is working with major credit card player Visa to significantly expand opportunities to pay with stablecoins in the region — even when merchants do not accept crypto.

Here’s how it works:

• Developers using Bridge will be able to use an API integration to offer stablecoin-linked Visa cards to customers in multiple countries.

• Customers can use these Visa cards to deduct from their stablecoin balance when paying merchants, who then get paid out in local, fiat currency. They can also add the cards to digital wallets.

• Bridge’s financial partner is U.S.-based Lead Bank.

• Fintech developers using the Bridge-enabled Visa cards will be able to provide card programs in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru.

As Bridge CEO and co-founder Zach Abrams explained in a press release:

“This is a massive unlock for developers who can now build truly scalable issuing products for their users. Everyone already knows how to use cards for payments, and now everyone will be able to use stablecoins with just a tap of their card.”

(Visa Press Release, Reuters, Blockworks, Fortune, Bloomberg, The Block)

Panama City Plans to Accept Crypto Tax Payments

While El Salvador recently moved away from accepting crypto tax payments as part of its agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the capital of another major Central American country is gearing up to embrace them.

Panama City, Panama’s mayor Mayer Mizrachi said in an April 15 X post that the city’s council voted to allow residents to pay taxes and other obligations in crypto using several different types of digital assets. The city government plans to work with a local bank to convert that crypto into fiat currency before it reaches public coffers.

• Mizrachi said citizens can pay for taxes, fees, permits and tickets in BTC, ETH, Circle (USDC) and Tether (USDT).

• The mayor signed an agreement with Towerbank’s President Benjamín Méndez at Panama Blockchain Week 2025 to facilitate the transition of crypto into dollars through its trustee, Towertrust. Towerbank has long been known for offering its customers crypto-friendly accounts.

• After news of the partnership, local news outlet La Estrella de Panama reported that Panama’s National Authority for Transparency and Access to Information (ANTAI) plans to investigate a complaint centered on allegations about a possible conflict of interest related to the partnership. Details are still developing.

Panama City is an important international business hub and attracts a significant amount of foreign real estate buyers, so it will be interesting to see how many people choose to pay city taxes and fees in crypto. Panama recognizes the U.S. dollar as legal tender alongside the local balboa currency, which maintains parity with the dollar.

(Bitcoin.com, Decrypt, Cointelegraph, Portal do Bitcoin, El País, La Estrella de Panama, CriptoNoticias)

Bolivia Takes Key Step to Regulate Fintech Companies

After reversing a longstanding crypto ban for financial institutions just more than a year ago, Bolivia’s government issued an executive decree to regulate fintech companies. As the country continues to face dollar shortages, Bolivia has moved toward establishing a regulatory framework for companies providing crypto and other digital financial services.

• Bolivia’s executive issued a decree on May 7 to regulate fintech companies, known as Financial Technology Companies (or ETFs for their acronym in Spanish).

• The decree defines several concepts, such as Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs or PSAVs in Spanish), virtual assets and tokenized assets.

• The regulation puts fintech companies into the following categories: solutions using blockchain, tokenized assets, virtual assets or VASPS; payments; financing platforms; business technologies; and other types of companies that the regulator could incorporate.

• Under the regulation, Bolivia’s financial regulator (ASFI for its Spanish acronym) can require companies to enter a regulatory sandbox.

• ASFI plans to issue specific regulations about how fintechs must be formed and operated within 40 business days of when the regulation was published.

For more granular information on how the regulations may affect fintech companies both inside and outside Bolivia, check out these regulatory alerts from law firms Moreno Baldivieso and Dentons.

(Cointelegraph, BeInCrypto, La Razón)

Bitso announces winners of its stablecoin accelerator

Nine applicants were selected to participate in The Push, the world’s first stablecoin accelerator program operated by Bitso Business.

The companies selected focus on cross-border payments, remittances and payment processing. They will have access to the three month accelerator that includes investment, mentoring, and Bitso platform credits.

The program received over 300 applications.

The selected projects include Lumx, Sphere, BlindPay, XFX, PagoAsap, RocketFX, Capa and Finviar. An undisclosed stealth project was also selected.

🗞 Latin America Crypto News Rundown

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.

💡 Before you dive in, we wanted to highlight that Kristin recently wrote a chapter dedicated to crypto in Latin America for Southern Pulse’s Beyond 2025 report. Check it out here.

Regional News

• World is the new official sponsor of the South American Football Confederation’s (CONMEBOL) 2025 Copa Suadamericana tournament. (Cointelegraph, BeInCrypto, Livecoins)

• Stablecoins represented 39% of crypto purchases on Bitso’s platform in 2024, according to the company’s Crypto Landscape in Latin America 2024 report. (Bitso, Cointelegraph, BeInCrypto)

• Bitso Business launched Euro Ramps to help companies send payments between Latin America and Europe. (El Economista, Mexico Business News, BeInCrypto)

South America

🇦🇷 Argentina

• Argentina’s lower house voted to form a commission to investigate the $LIBRA crypto scandal. (Decrypt, Globo, Livecoins, Cointelegraph, Buenos Aires Herald, Portal do Bitcoin)

• Argentina’s National Securities Commission (CNV) issued the final regulatory requirements for VASPs operating in the country. (Argentina CNV, Cointelegraph, Bitcoin.com)

• The CNV is also calling for a public consultation on implementing tokenization into its regulations. (Argentina CNV, Livecoins)

• Binance named Andrés Ondarra as its new general manager for Argentina and the Southern Cone region. (BeInCrypto, Infobae, CriptoNoticias)

• Police in Buenos Aires detained two people accused of selling high-value cell phones on Instagram and keeping the money to invest in crypto instead of delivering the products. (Infobae, Livecoins)

🇧🇴 Bolivia

• Paraguayan media outlet La Nación reported that Bolivians are going to Paraguay to obtain dollars on the black market using crypto. (La Nación, Livecoins)

• Bolivia’s central bank is considering creating a digital currency. It plans to update the public with more information in August to coincide with the country’s bicentennial celebrations. (La Razón, CriptoNoticias)

• Reuters reported in March that Bolivia’s state energy company YPFB would use crypto to pay for energy imports, citing a company spokesperson and government official. However, the company then said on April 15 that it did not have plans to use crypto assets. (Reuters, Cointelegraph, Livecoins, CriptoNoticias)

🇨🇱 Chile

• Mercado Pago launched its Meli Dólar stablecoin in the Chilean market. (Cointelegraph, Latam Fintech Hub, BeInCrypto)

🇨🇴 Colombia

• Prominent newspaper El Tiempo reported that scammers created a fake news article using its image to promote a fraudulent crypto exchange. (El Tiempo, BeInCrypto)

🇵🇾 Paraguay

• Paraguay’s central bank reminded citizens that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are not legal tender. (Livecoins)

• Hive Digital is planning to expand its bitcoin mining operations in Paraguay. (CoinDesk, Cointelegraph, Bitcoin.com)

• Paraguay and El Salvador will collaborate to strengthen the supervision and regulation of virtual asset service providers. (CoinDesk, Cointelegraph, CriptoNoticias)

• An attempt to rob a crypto mining operation this week ended in a shooting, while another facility reportedly lost about 130 machines to an armed group earlier this month. (ABC, Radio Monumental, Última Hora)

• Meanwhile, a police official told a local radio station that crypto-related scams have moved more than $4 billion in Paraguay between 2023 and 2024. (Radio Monumental, Livecoins, Bitcoin.com)

🇵🇪 Peru

• The Peru Blockchain Conference 2025 on June 20-21 in Lima is expected to attract more than 1,500 attendees and has secured Charles Hoskinson as one of its top speakers. (Cointelegraph)

🇺🇾Uruguay

• A man who allegedly played a key role in a high-profile crypto Ponzi scheme was extradited to Brazil from Uruguay. (Infobae, Búsqueda)

🇻🇪 Venezuela

• Five people were detained for an alleged crypto scam involving a platform called HV IJEX Exchange, which by one estimate affected tens of thousands of people in Venezuela and other countries in the region. (BeInCrypto, NTN24, Infobae)

Central America, Mexico & Caribbean

🇩🇴 Dominican Republic

• Crypto app Lulubit has expanded to the Dominican Republic and Honduras. (Cointelegraph, CriptoFácil)

🇲🇽 Mexico

• Bitso announced it would launch a new stablecoin-focused subsidiary called Juno, which is launching the Mexican peso-pegged stablecoin MXNB. (CoinDesk, El Economista, Cointelegraph).

🇺🇸🇵🇷 Puerto Rico

• A New York congresswoman has introduced a bill that seeks to keep crypto investors from using Puerto Rico as a tax haven. (Bloomberg)

🇸🇻 El Salvador

• El Salvador’s continued bitcoin purchases since its deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have continued to make headlines. (Cointelegraph, Exame, Livecoins, Bloomberg)

• El Salvador’s National Commission of Digital Assets (CNAD) reportedly proposed a sandbox for tokenized real estate to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s Crypto Task Force. (Decrypt, Cointelegraph)

• Spanish news agency EFE reported that 89% of the bitcoin services providers registered in El Salvador are not operating, based on data from the country’s Central Reserve Bank. (El Mundo, El Economista, Cointelegraph, CriptoFacil)

• Americas Quarterly took a look at the lessons learned from El Salvador’s experiment to make bitcoin legal tender. (Americas Quarterly)