Welcome to Latam Insights, a compilation of the most relevant crypto news from Latin America over the past week. In this week’s edition, Bolivia evaluates issuance of a wholesale CBDC, Argentina officially inks a $20 billion currency swap deal, and President Milei gets summoned by Congress regarding Libra.
Bolivia Evaluates Feasibility of Interbank CBDC Amid Growing Stablecoin Adoption
The Central Bank of Bolivia has issued the first report that evaluates the implementation of the digital boliviano, a national central bank digital currency (CBDC) to modernize Bolivia’s financial system.
In the report, the bank acknowledges that such a currency would allow private banks to optimize high-value transactions and revamp the sovereignty of the fiat currency, the Bolivian boliviano, in an increasingly digital ecosystem.
During this first phase, the bank considered that a wholesale, interbank currency would have a more useful implementation, given that it would optimize the internal processes of the payment system among financial actors.
The document issued on October 15 declares that, in opposition to the considered approach, a retail CBDC would have a reduced impact. “Considering the current level of development of the retail payment system in Bolivia, the additional benefits that a CBDC could offer in this segment could be limited in the short term,” the bank stressed.
Argentina and US Treasury Ink $20 Billion Swap Line as Trump Warns the Latam Country Is ‘Dying’
The Central Bank of Argentina (BCRA) finally inked a $20 billion agreement with the U.S. Treasury to stabilize its dollar-peso exchange rate. The milestone comes after weeks of negotiations with U.S. officials, including U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, as President Javier Milei sought to cement this lifeline before the midterm elections.
In an official press release, the BCRA disclosed that the agreement “sets forth the terms and conditions for the implementation of bilateral currency swap operations between the two parties.”
This $20 billion is part of a strategy that also includes comprehensive interventions from the U.S. Treasury, which has been purchasing pesos directly in the Argentine currency exchange market.
Argentine President Javier Milei stressed that if conditions worsen, this swap line could settle debt payments next year, hinting at a continued intervention of the U.S. Treasury to maintain the stability of the current dollar-peso exchange rate.
Argentine Libra Congressional Probe Advances With Milei in Its Sights: ‘Bribe’ Transactions Identified
The Argentine commission in charge of investigating the Libra incident, where President Javier Milei shared info about a token with that name using his social media account, continues its advance to clarify the events that unfolded during the launch of the token.
Maximiliano Ferraro, president of the commission, highlighted that it decided to summon President Milei to correct his earlier statements about the almost null participation of Argentine citizens in Libra’s launch.
While Milei stated that “at most” 5 Argentines could have been affected by the token’s price disaster. Nonetheless, Ripio, a local exchange that listed Libra on its platform, reported that 1,329 Argentines bought Libra.
“Of the 5,000 (damaged), the vast majority are Americans and Chinese,” he affirmed in February.
In addition, Ferraro revealed that the commission identified millionaire transactions between Hayden Davis, CEO of Kelsier Ventures, and Mauricio Novelli and Manuel Terrones Godoy, two crypto entrepreneurs.
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