El Salvador Bitcoin wallet shows ‘strong sign of adoption,’ exec says

May 2, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Bitso

The Mexican Bitso exchange has been providing its custody and exchange services to Chivo so that the government of El Salvador can buy Bitcoin.

El Salvador’s government-backed Bitcoin (BTC) wallet has reached significant success in terms of adoption, according to an exec at the cryptocurrency exchange behind the wallet.

The Chivo wallet was launched in conjunction with BTC becoming legal tender in El Salvador on Sept. 7, 2021. The official platform allows users to buy and sell Bitcoin, offering cryptocurrency custody and exchange services provided by the Mexican crypto trading platform Bitso.

Bitso essentially provides back-end technology so that the government of El Salvador can purchase Bitcoin and ensure that BTC is convertible to the United States dollar, Bitso’s chief corporate and regulatory affairs officer Felipe Vallejo told Cointelegraph on Friday.

“Ever since it began working with the government in September, Bitso has continued to provide liquidity to the Chivo wallet,” Vallejo said. He added that Bitso started to operate in El Salvador through Chivo and is currently present in the country via that platform only. However, the exchange is active in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia.

According to Vallejo, Chivo has achieved great success in the seven months after its somewhat bumpy rollout, when the wallet faced technical issues and even went offline.

“Through our work with the Chivo Wallet we’ve been able to see how a significant part of the population has turned to using the application for safe and easy transactions,” Vallejo stated. He referred to a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research, which found that 40% of those who downloaded the Chivo wallet have continued using it after receiving their government incentives. He stated:

“We believe that this is a relatively strong sign of adoption. As education regarding cryptocurrency and everyday use cases increase in the region, more users will remain on the application with a deeper understanding of the technology and the opportunities that it creates.”

Vallejo said that 20% of all Salvadorans continued using the Chivo wallet after spending their free $30 bonus in BTC. This should be viewed as a “strong signal of increasing adoption,” especially when compared to the adoption of traditional financial services in El Salvador. According to some sources, only 29% of adults in El Salvador had bank accounts as of 2017.

Furthermore, 70% of El Salvador’s population doesn’t have a bank account and work in the informal economy.

Financial inclusion is not only a moral imperative, but also a way to grow the country’s economy, providing access to credit, savings, investment and secure transactions.
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) June 6, 2021

The executive also stressed the strength of Chivo’s adoption against the backdrop of other crypto exchanges. El Salvador, a country with 6.49 million citizens, has 2.6 million Chivo users, Vallejo said, adding that some major global exchanges like Coinbase had 11.4 million active users in total as of Q4 2021.

Bitso and Chivo expect to increase the adoption rate by educating people about crypto and blockchain. “The main barrier to cryptocurrency adoption, both in Latin America and globally, is education. As we continue to provide Salvadorans with the information and tools to best understand and utilize the innovative technology, we anticipate increased adoption rates,” Vallejo said. He mentioned that Bitso has also been engaged in education efforts in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay.

From beer to Bitcoin as legal tender: A BTC education in Roatán

April 21, 2022 Coin Telegraph

caribbean

How a small-scale Bitcoin education project involving a former brewery collided with plans for Bitcoin as de facto legal tender.

Few crypto enthusiasts around the world could point to the remote island of Roatán prior to the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami.

Dušan Matuska was one of them, a Bitcoin (BTC) educator whose plans to open a Bitcoin education center in a former brewery entangled with the Satoshi Nakamoto-inspired vision of a special economic zone in Honduras called Próspera. Located on Roatán, Próspera accepts Bitcoin as a de facto legal tender as of April 2022.

But how did a Slovakian Bitcoin miner stumble across one of the few locations worldwide to accept Bitcoin as de facto legal tender? And, what does a brewery have to do with it?

In late 2021, Matuska’s Bitcoin mining friends mentioned the Honduran isle of Roatan, explaining their intention to buy a few plots of land on the picture-perfect island. Given the success of neighboring country El Salvador and the Bitcoin Beach Bitcoin adoption story, as well as his personal mission to teach 100 million people about Bitcoin by 2030, Matuska’s curiosity was piqued.

Matuska flew over from Paraguay, where he was investigating renewable Bitcoin mining operations, and quickly learned Roatán is a “nice small island in Honduras” that has “beautiful views.” It’s like a “hidden pearl of the Caribbean.”

However, it’s small, so “after two weeks having a holiday there, you start to get bored.”

“Since our mission is always to educate people about Bitcoin, we began cooking up ideas about a Bitcoin education center in Honduras.”

In line with other Bitcoin grassroots projects around the world such as El Salvador and Portland, Oregon, while drawing from his own experience educating people about Bitcoin at crypto cafés in Eastern Europe, Matuska began scoping out centers for Bitcoin education.

*The Paralení Polis alternative education café in Prague, Czechia. The space became a Bitcoin education center. Source: Google*

A curious coincidence, Matuska is Slovakian — Czechs and Slovakians are close and share similar culture and histories — and Czech is the second-largest expat population on the island after the Americans. What’s more, an old Czech brewery had fallen into disarray.

The former Czech brewery appeared to be the ideal opportunity to rejuvenate a tired space and convert it into a place where visitors could learn about the world’s largest cryptocurrency. “It looked like a Bitcoin Citadel,” Matuska told Cointelegraph.

The beers to Bitcoin story had begun.

However, the size and scale of restoring a large and derelict brewery into an education center were daunting. When Matuska and the team “checked it out, the building was rotten and damaged.” Restoring the relic would cost “maybe hundreds of thousands of euros to put back to a normal state.”

In another happy accident, the Próspera business event was taking place on the island, just around the corner. Próspera is a special economic zone in the center of Roátan that hosts its own civil law and regulatory structure. Próspera’s laws take inspiration from the hugely successful Shenzen economic zone in China, as well as Dubai.

*The Próspera special economic zone. Source: Prospera.hn*

Matuska left the brewery to take part in the conference buoyed by conversations he had about Honduras potentially adopting Bitcoin as legal tender. He explained that in Roatán in early 2022:

“You could pay some taxes in Bitcoin; businesses were super open to accepting Bitcoin, or any other currency, because there is a huge amount of freedom in the whole area.”

During the conference, a golden opportunity presented itself: Matuska was asked to discuss his work with Bitcoin and education.

“I was thinking, okay, should I present the potential Honduras Bitcoin Education Center? Like, Is it okay or not? In the end, I decided I should.”

Shortly after the presentation about the brewery to Bitcoin project, Erick Brimen, founder and CEO of the Próspera special economic zone, turned to Matuska. “Come with me,” he said.

“Erick Brimen took me to a building at the highest viewpoint on Roatán in Pristine Bay. It’s an amazing building. Right now, there’s a school but it’s outgrown the building. In June, it’s going to be free. And. it’s going to be where we start building the center.”

Forget the derelict brewery, an even better Bitcoin education center had fallen into Matuska’s lap. Moreover, Matuska got the nod from the CEO of the organization that was the driving force for Bitcoin as legal tender in Próspera.

Visited Roatan island in Honduras last week to find a place for our future Bitcoin Education Center. We were offered this wonderful building in @Prosperahn to start in one of the most #Bitcoin friendly jurisdictions pic.twitter.com/6zrWpXAzJf
— Dusan Matuska (@dusan_matuska) April 11, 2022

Brimen explained to Cointelegraph that the Bitcoin education center in Próspera aligns with their key strategic objectives of identifying “100 cocreators that will be ‘hands on’ in activating a string of strategic projects.”

“Dusan’s project is one of them, he’s co-creating something important to the jurisdiction by installing a Bitcoin education center. Decentralized finance is key and Bitcoin is a much better form of currency than traditional fiat. We want to enable that.”

Upon seeing the new building and the scale of the project, Matuska’s brain went into overdrive. He needed to talk to his girlfriend, his colleagues, immigration authorities and airlines as they had just “a couple of weeks or months just to set it up and start to put everything together.”

Matuska told Cointelegraph that the Próspera project was keen to do “everything on Bitcoin.” A deal was struck just weeks before Bitcoin 2022.

During Samson Mow’s keynote speech at Bitcoin 2022, Bitcoin as a de facto legal tender was announced in Próspera, Honduras and Madeira, Portugal, while a Mexican senator shared ambitious Bitcoin plans for her country.

*The announcement made during Bitcoin 2022 in Miami. Source: YouTube*

Matuska jokes that Bremen almost mentioned the Bitcoin education center during the keynote speech, but the time constraints of just “90 seconds on stage” didn’t quite allow for it.

Back in Honduras, the Bitcoin education center is growing in importance as part of Próspera’s and Brimen’s vision for Bitcoin. Ultimately, Bitcoin should be understood and used correctly.

*The view from the top of the Bitcoin education center in Próspera. Source: Matuska*

Brimen told Cointelegraph that “it is not enough to simply make it legal,” as people should “have the tools available to them as well as the knowledge to use it optimally.” He continued:

“Since it is considered legal tender, we want to enable people to not just have the right to use it but to use it responsibly.”

As a result, Matuska is keen for Bitcoiners around the world to visit, reach out and be part of the change occurring in Honduras.

“Próspera actually asked us to be the leaders in terms of onboarding businesses in Honduras, helping them out and setting everything up. For us, it’s a huge leap toward our vision of accelerating Bitcoinization. And, that’s why I just couldn’t say no.”

“Lecturers from Czechia and Slovakia are flying out to teach,” but the team is still thin on the ground. As Brimen concludes, “to use Bitcoin to the maximum benefit possible,” they are going to need all the help they can get.

*The Próspera Bitcoin education center. Source: Matuska*

As for the former brewery that's fallen into disrepair, Matuska told Cointelegraph that "maybe" in the future, there will be a Bitcoin-related project taking place there. It'd be a shame to let such a beautiful building go to waste.

The world doesn’t need banks, policymakers or NGOs — It needs DeFi

April 17, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

DeFi can usher in a system where people don’t have to pay international corporations 10% to send money home in the internet era of Web3.

Where I grew up, on the southern border in Texas, a tremendous number of people have come to the United States to work and send money back home. They don’t make much money, but they pay considerable fees on their transfers. Their focus is not on getting rich, but on supporting those back home in their native country. They support their families as they do hard labor day in and day out. It costs them too much to do so.

Truth be told, my father was a migrant worker. He picked fruit in the fields. We sent money back to our family in Mexico. But the remittance providers chipped away at what little money he was able to make so that they had no hope of achieving the American Dream and prospering.

The world needs DeFi due to corruption. Big governments and international corporations are controlled not in the interest of the people, but the interest of their bottom line. Credit cards and personal loans have tremendous fees, as do remittances.

When migrants send home part of their earnings in the form of remittances, they represent a large source of foreign income for many developing economies. Remittances, which are particularly important for low-income countries, account for nearly 4%t of their GDP, compared with approximately 1.5% of the GDP for middle-income countries. Remittance flows are important because they are more stable than capital flows, and they tend to be countercyclical, meaning remittances increase during economic downturns or after a natural disaster when private capital flows fall.

DeFi lowers the fees migrant workers pay to send money home, saving them billions of dollars. Some remittances entail fees of more than 20%. Out of desperation, people pay these fees to send a considerable source of their income to households across Africa, Asia and Latin America, helping to lift families out of poverty by providing financial stability.

Hundreds of billions of dollars are sent home every year. That’s far more than official development aid. Most remittances go to low and middle-income countries. In Kyrgyzstan, Nepal and Liberia, remittance comprises more than a quarter of national GDP, it said. The average costs are 7%, according to UNESCO’s 2019 Global Education Monitoring Report. What’s more, traditional banks cost remitters the most. Their average fees are 10%! Big banks have monopolies on remittances and they take advantage thereof. To serve the underserved, the world needs not banks, policymakers or NGOs, but DeFi.

The highway robbery of remittances

In my view, centralized finance makes an unfair margin on migrants who are simply using their own money. That’s why the world needs decentralized finance. There is no reason to pay fees when transferring money. So don’t. Use decentralized finance rather than paying a tremendous amount of money when sending money back home.

When I began to look at the decentralized exchanges, I learned no one could take your money from you, because you maintain possession of your keys. You can borrow, lend, trade on margin and so much more. DeFi coupled with stablecoins is a powerful combination, especially for the unbanked.

Thanks to crypto, not only can migrants send money to loved ones back home for less, but those loved ones back home can now earn passive income in the decentralized finance space. They can utilize reward systems like liquidity pools or staking, and behold the power of truly being their own bank. No need to give your hard-earned money over to a middleman; a bank. You do not need negative interest rates.

DeFi projects are built for the benefit of others. Participants can make a profit benefiting others. Food is being put on people’s tables across the globe because of decentralized finance. That’s a beautiful thing. The sense of community in DeFi comes from giving power back to the people. It drives us all to do better for ourselves. It puts all of us in a better position to do good. When we work on improving ourselves, we have no problem bettering the people around us. Healthy competition propels us all.

DeFi offers a trustless environment in which transactions are managed by smart contracts. Blockchainers are rethinking and redefining finance before our very eyes.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

RTR Crypto is the global project manager for FEGtoken. He worked as an ER nurse for seven years as well as one year in hospice nursing, and also served on the Texas disaster response team. He followed his father’s footsteps and began investing in stocks before becoming involved in crypto. His father lovingly told him he was an idiot. RTR left medical school in his third year to work alongside the FEG team on improving decentralized trading platforms and creating a safer crypto space for new and experienced investors.

Bitcoin 2022 Miami: Conference recap and major themes

April 14, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

The four-day event brought together developers, business leaders, policymakers and builders of the Bitcoin economy.

Bitcoin (BTC) has come a long way since an obscure and esoteric white paper written by Satoshi Nakamoto was first published 13 years ago. The Bitcoin 2022 conference, hosted by Bitcoin Magazine and sponsored by Cash App, was perhaps the largest single event for the BTC community as 30,000 attendees and exhibitors descended on Miami Beach, according to the Miami Herald.

Cointelegraph sent a contingency of journalists to experience the bullishness of Bitcoin 2022, a sentiment that was physically represented by a laser-eyed bull statue reminiscent of the Charging Bull on Wall Street in New York City. Along the way, they got to interview billionaires, hedge fund managers, business leaders and analysts about all things Bitcoin. Here were some of the notable themes from the event.

*The Miami Bull stood outside the Miami Beach Convention Center during the conference.*

Inflation

Bitcoin’s role as an inflation hedge is being put to the test as consumer prices continue to rise at the fastest clip in over four decades. But according to Morgan Creek Capital founder Mark Yusko, the problem isn’t inflation per se — it’s currency devaluation.

“This isn’t inflation. This is currency devaluation,” Yusko told Cointelegraph business editor Sam Bourgi in an exclusive interview, referring to the outcome of Federal Reserve policy. Although one BTC will always equal one BTC, its value in dollar terms may become less relevant over time as monetary policy continues to erode consumers’ and investors’ purchasing power.

Noah Perlman, chief operating officer of Gemini, echoed Yusko's sentiment and cited Gemini’s 2022 Global State of Crypto report. Perlman told Cointelegraph that citizens in countries with heavily devalued currencies “need to have crypto,” while in the developed world, it’s often just “nice to have.”

Institutional adoption

After spending years talking about it, the digital asset industry has seen a tidal wave of institutional adoption over the past 12 months. This is not only reflected in the large capital inflows into institutional crypto funds and the rise of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, but also in the green lighting of crypto investments from within legacy finance institutions.

“Mr. Wonderful” Kevin O’Leary explained last November that his cautious approach to crypto investing was due to his own compliance department telling him to back off. But that appears to have changed. Now, legacy finance is looking for exposure to digital assets, and not just via crypto proxy stocks.

In an interview with Cointelegraph at Bitcoin 2022, O’Leary gave the example of how a sovereign pension fund would approach crypto investing. In terms of limitations, “it’s completely regulatory,” he said, meaning that once such hurdles are cleared, it’s off to the races.

Bitcoin mining and sustainability

The topics of many panels related to sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards when it came to Bitcoin mining. Cointelegraph spoke to Greg Beard, chief executive officer of Stronghold Digital Mining, a power plant that uses coal waste to generate electricity that powers Bitcoin mining supercomputers. He believes that Bitcoin’s “massive benefits for society dwarf any emissions concerns” and that powering the “largest decentralized computing network in the world” is not a risky endeavor.

When asked about renewable energy sources powering Bitcoin miners, he said that although wind and solar power grids are inevitably becoming widespread, they are the least reliable sources of energy and that he prefers nuclear energy. He added that in the United States, Bitcoin mining could be considered a spinning reserve, essentially a backup battery, that saves the country’s power grid during shortages while keeping prices down.

Macroeconomic analysis indicates BTC price will go up

While many within the crypto community have tempered their expectations for Bitcoin’s price, the long-term view remains overwhelmingly bullish. Despite all that’s going on in the world, the Bitcoin network continues to produce block after block. And the newly mined Bitcoin is being gobbled up by whales, such as MicroStrategy, Luna Foundation Guard, PayPal and others.

Bloomberg’s senior commodity strategist Mike McGlone explained to Cointelegraph that Bitcoin’s perfectly inelastic supply means prices are going higher in the future — assuming demand continues to grow. While McGlone didn’t rule out short-term price declines, especially in light of the uncertainty surrounding risk assets, he explained that Bitcoin’s volatility is declining relative to stocks and commodities.

Lower correlations with traditional risk-on assets, declining volatility over time and rapidly advancing technology are leading to wider mainstream adoption of crypto as an asset class, McGlone said.

Other insights

2022 is the second year that the Bitcoin conference has taken place in Miami, relocating from its original home in Los Angeles in 2021. This move has only further cemented Miami's transformation into a cryptocurrency hub, adding to its more common designation as the financial hub for Latin America.

As such, Cointelegraph made sure to talk to Sebastian Serrano, the chief operating officer of Ripio, one of the fastest growing crypto companies in Latin America to offer its own wallet, an exchange and an over-the-counter desk. According to Serrano, who admitted to once being a Bitcoin Maximalist, the Bitcoin community may be "too conservative" when it comes to innovation. However, he is a firm believer in Bitcoin's potential to become a standard in the global financial and corporate economy. Noting differences between his consumers in different South American countries, he stated that Brazil is currently leading crypto ownership and adoption in LatAm.

With additional reporting by Sam Bourgi.

Top Latin America delivery app to accept crypto

April 14, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin Payments

The company has partnered with Bitso and Bitpay to allow its users to pay for orders with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Rappi, the most popular delivery service in Latin America, is working with Bitso and Bitpay to accept Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrency payments.

As reported by Cointelegraph Brazil, Rappi is integrating with Bitso and Bitpay through a trial project in Mexico. However, it's unclear whether the pilot plan will also enable access to the service in Brazil and other Latin American countries.

In Mexico, Rappi, a Colombian delivery app with operations in nine Latin American countries, has launched a crypto payments pilot program. Customers will be able to convert crypto into credits that can subsequently be used to complete purchases on Rappi's platform.
— Crypto Goddy (@CryptoGoddy) April 12, 2022

Sebastián Mejia, the co-founder and president of Rappi, noted that cryptocurrencies will not be accepted directly by the app at this first stage. Mexico's Rappi users will be able to pay for credits with cryptocurrencies. They may then use their credits on any items and services available through the app.

However, according to the institution's president, Rappi's plans with cryptocurrencies are much more ambitious. In addition, other integrations should be made public in the future. He noted that:

“In this first phase, we decided to build a product that allows our consumers to connect their digital wallets and exchange accounts to convert cryptocurrencies into Rappi credits and thus access all the products available within the platform."

It is not the first time a major delivery service has incorporated Bitcoin payments. Lieferando, like Rappi, was the first of its kind to accept cryptocurrencies as payment in 2017. Grubhub teamed up with Bitcoin rewards app Lolli to allow hungry consumers to earn cryptocurrency on their orders.

The Latin America region has been a hotbed of activity for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency adoption. According to a recent study, 75 percent of investors in Asia-Pacific and Latin American emerging markets are seeking to expand their cryptocurrency investments. In September 2021, El Salvador officially became the first nation to recognize Bitcoin as a legal currency.

Brazilian Senate announces incoming approval of the ‘Bitcoin law’

April 13, 2022 Coin Telegraph

bitcoin regulation

The law will allow the President of Brazil to designate or create a regulatory agency to oversee the crypto market.

The bill regulating the cryptocurrency market in Brazil is expected to be approved by the National Congress in the first half of this year, according to Cointelegraph Brazil.

The legislation, which has been debated in the Chamber of Deputies since 2015, has been approved in the first round of consideration. The Senate has attached it to another crypto-focused bill, which has already been approved by the Economic Affairs Committee of the Senate.

Two legislators, Senator Irajá Abreu and Deputy Aureo Ribeiro, both rapporteurs of the aforementioned proposals in their respective legislative chambers, are drafting a unified text of the bill that will be sent to the full Senate vote.

“I'm doing everything in contact with the Chamber's rapporteur, who did a very good job. The Central Bank's technical team has also been very helpful. The texts are similar and converged into one,” said Senator Irajá.

Irajá also pointed out that the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco, is expected to put the unified bill to an April plenary vote. He said:

“By joining the projects together, we accelerated the approval of this cryptocurrency milestone. There is a market demand for a safer business environment and the need for criminal classification to avoid fraud, in addition to adjusting Brazil to international agreements.”

The approval of the law in plenary will not make Bitcoin legal tender in Brazil as it does in El Salvador.

The proposed law would allow the Brazilian President to determine a federal entity responsible for establishing rules for cryptocurrencies. The president would either create a new regulator or delegate this function to the nation’s Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) or the Central Bank of Brazil (BC).

The regulator will be responsible for defining market guidelines and establishing norms in line with international standards to prevent money laundering and the concealment of assets.

The bill also proposes a penalty of four to eight years in prison, in addition to a fine for those who commit fraud in the provision of virtual asset services.

Another point highlighted in the bill is a set of incentives for crypto miners to set up shop in Brazil. It proposes to exempt the import of ASICs to the country from taxes. However, this could not be enough to lure Bitcoin miners into the country, provided that energy rates in Brazil are among the highest in South America and about five times higher than in nations like Paraguay and Venezuela.

Why is a Guatemalan Mayor mining Bitcoin? Tackling FUD with biogas and BTC

April 4, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin

A Bitcoin project in Guatemala has cleaned up the air, contributed to carbon-negative Bitcoin mining and put a Bitcoin miner in the hands of the local mayor.

The Bitcoin (BTC) community is at it again, dismantling FUD and orange-pilling officials in far-flung destinations.

At the foot of Lake Atitlán, a bucolic yet impoverished region of Guatemala, a Bitcoin project has managed to get a miner into the hands of the local mayor. The process has boosted local incomes while also improving the air quality.

In Panajachel, Guatemala a community of almost 20,000 people is coming around to Bitcoin after the local mayor, Cesar Piedrasanta was gifted an old S9 Bitcoin miner. It’s the first municipality in Central or South America to mine BTC.

*Bill Whittaker and Patrick Melder presenting the Mayor with a miner. Source: Medium67corvette*

While this is exceptional in itself, there are two important consequences. Firstly, mining with a “5-year old” miner helps to “address the electronic waste (or ‘e-waste’) narrative associated with bitcoin mining,” Bill Whittaker, part of the Bitcoin Lake team, told Cointelegraph.

E-waste refers to the replacement of physical mining infrastructure with newer, more efficient models. A New York moratorium on mining recently addressed the reported issue recently, and a report by Science Direct claims that one Bitcoin transaction produces 272 grams of e-waste due to mostly old mining equipment. However, the Guatemala Mayor is managing just fine with his old S9.

Secondly, with the proceeds from the Bitcoin miner, the team hopes to resolve issues affecting the wastewater treatment plant.

*The wastewater treatment plant where the first two s17s miners will be plugged in. Source: Twitter*

The waste treatment plant (WWTP) is a heavy polluter “due to cracked seals located on top of the plant's digester, there is not enough pressure to flare the plant's methane emissions.” As a result, the unpleasant and smelly pollutants are contaminating the air.

Whittaker and the team intend to repair the WWTP, then capture the biogas that used to leak to be used as a power source for energy generation. It's a win-win-win: cleaner air, renewable energy, more Bitcoin.

3/
- Re-flaring of the WWTP's methane byproduct will not only improve air quality, but will allow for a controlled capture and analysis of the plant's biogas production.

- Use Panajachel's WWTPs biogas to produce electricity and power additional Bitcoin miners. pic.twitter.com/CV9CWF6LYW
— WildBTC (@BillWhittaker11) March 28, 2022

Whittaker expounds, “poorer countries/municipalities do not have the resources to generate expensive fossil-fuel electricity, but they do generate plenty of methane-producing waste.” This waste can not only mine Bitcoin but consequently generate a monetary return for the local people:

“The goal of this proof-of-concept is to capture the wasted fuel and convert the biogas into electricity/bitcoin.”

Biogas as a power source for Bitcoin mining is growing in popularity: a Slovakian Bitcoin miner puts the waste to work, while the Guatemalan project is only just flexing its muscles.

Whittaker is keen to highlight the “real stars of the show” involved in the project: two high school seniors called Madaket and Kate. They “came up with the idea of focusing on sustainable bitcoin mining for their high school senior project”.

In this Instagram video, they explain how Bitcoin is “the future currency.” It's clear the girls are determined to undermine the negative misconceptions associated with Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining. Whittaker says “they will present the town of Panajachel two additional ASIC machines (s17+). These machines will be powered up at the waste treatment plant.”

*Madaket and Kate working on the Bitcoin miner to bring down to Guatemala. Source: Twitter*

Ultimately, capturing cheap wasted energy is the name of the game when it comes to small-scale Bitcoin mining. Even Senator Ted Cruz says Bitcoin miners do well to capture wasted resources and put them to good use.

For Whittaker, projects such as mining in Panajachel show just how impactful grassroots movements from the Bitcoin community can be:

"Greenpeace and Chris Larsen spend $5mm on 'change the code' FUD, these two girls are self-funding carbon-negative bitcoin mining R&D, while at the same time making the decentralized network stronger and wider."

Coinbase to reportedly buy the $2.2B Brazilian unicorn behind Mercado Bitcoin

March 28, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Brazil

A Brazilian newspaper, Estadão, reported that Coinbase could complete the acquisition of $2.2 billion 2TM, the company behind Mercado Bitcoin, by April.

Coinbase is set to continue its global acquisition strategy, reportedly buying the Brazilian company 2TM, the parent company of Mercado Bitcoin.

According to information from Estadão, the third-largest newspaper read by Brazil’s 212 million populace, the Coinbase acquisition could be complete by next month. Negotiations for the purchase have been taking place over the course of 2022.

Mercado Bitcoin is Latin America’s largest crypto brokerage, whose parent company, 2TM cemented its unicorn status as a billion-dollar company in 2021. Valued at $2.2 billion, 2TM has also pursued an acquisition strategy, particularly in lusophone countries. 2TM’s Mercado Bitcoin snapped up Portuguese CriptoLoja, a Lisbon-based crypto exchange in January.

The 2TM holding company umbrella now covers Meubank, MB Digital Assets, CriptoLoja, Bitrust, Blockchain Academy, MezaPro, Wuzu and Portal do Bitcoin.

For Coinbase, the reported planned purchase of 2TM demonstrates that their global acquisition strategy is snowballing. Following the acquisition of an Indian AI startup to improve customer service as angry feedback from customers proved too much, the San-Francisco-based exchange also recently purchased blockchain-infrastructure platform Bison Trails.

Coinbase’s most recent institutional investor report from Coinbase on Latin America, “crypto in Latam”, mentions Brazil 31 times, while Mexico (with a larger GDP but plenty of crypto interest) was mentioned just 17.

The report states that in Brazil:

“Direct crypto trading is growing rapidly. Locally based crypto exchange Mercado Bitcoin has seen transaction volumes increase seven-fold year-on-year to August.”

A keystone of the group's Latam expansion plans, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency exchange has also been on the lookout for business development managers and executives as part of a Brazilian hiring spree.

It's no surprise why; Brazil is a hotbed for Bitcoin adoption. The capital, Rio de Janeiro will accept crypto for certain taxes in 2023, and according to triple-A, more than 10 million Brazilians own cryptocurrencies.

Cointelegraph reported that 2021 was the year of “mass adoption” in Brazil, as UFC stars and politicians got in on the action.

Please note, Cointelegraph reached out to Coinbase, 2TM and Estadão for comment and will update where possible.

Bitcoin is ‘not regulated’ — Honduras’ central bank pushes back against legal tender rumors

March 23, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin

The central bank said “for the time being” Bitcoin was not regulated in the country, but it was exploring the feasibility of introducing a CBDC.

The Central Bank of Honduras, or BCH, addressed rumors regarding the country potentially adopting Bitcoin as legal tender like its neighbor El Salvador — and the answer seems to be negative.

In a Wednesday statement, Honduras' central bank said “for the time being” Bitcoin (BTC) was not regulated in the country and not recognized as legal tender in many others. The BCH reiterated its authority under Honduras' constitution that it was the only authorized “issuer of banknotes and coins” considered to be legal tender in the country.

“BCH does not supervise or guarantee operations carried out with cryptocurrencies as means of payment,” said the central bank, according to a translated statement. “Any transaction carried out with these types of virtual assets is the responsibility and risk of those who do it.”

The central bank added it was continuing to study “with the conceptual, technical and legal analysis” the feasibility of introducing a central bank digital currency, or CBDC, in Honduras. The BCH said a CBDC would be considered legal tender in the country and regulated accordingly.

Several news sources reported this week that Honduran President Xiomara Castro was considering recognizing BTC as legal tender. El Salvador, which borders Honduras to the west, adopted the crypto asset as legal tender in September 2021 and has since planned to construct a $1-billion “Bitcoin City” with crypto mining operations powered by geothermal energy from the country’s volcanoes.

Holy cow! This is BIG news if true! Reports saying that Honduras may be next to make #bitcoin into legal tender! https://t.co/vSD5R7AY1F
— Lark Davis (@TheCryptoLark) March 22, 2022

Other countries have also been making pushes to follow El Salvador’s example in adopting crypto. In February, a Mexican senator said she planned to introduce a bill to the country’s congress in 2022 proposing BTC become legal tender — the bill is modeled after El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law. A lawmaker from the island nation of Tonga, more than 10,000 kilometers from Hondura, is also working on legislation which could see the country recognize cryptocurrencies as legal tender by mid-2023.

Fight for Bitcoin: Brazilian UFC star to receive fight earnings in BTC

March 22, 2022 Coin Telegraph

bitwage

UFC fighter Matheus Nicolau is moving to the Bitcoin paycheck to hedge against inflation and secure the value of his hard work.

Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter Matheus Nicolau is the latest world-famous athlete to opt to receive his fight earnings in the largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin (BTC).

The eighth-ranked UFC flyweight fighter, Nicolau received his first salary in Bitcoin on Monday through a deal assisted by Bitwage payroll service, according to a joint announcement shared with Cointelegraph.

The Brazilian sportsman has opted to take a paycheck in BTC to hedge against the rising inflation. Nicolau said that earning Bitcoin will help him secure the value of his hard work and not to worry about his money going to waste, adding:

“I make my money the hard way. I bleed for it. MMA is an intense sport that you put everything you have into. While I constantly fight on one hand, I have a feeling I am constantly losing money on the other. Then it hit me: Bitcoin is the solution.”

Alongside the Brazilian fighter, his manager Vinícius Las Casas will also be using Bitwage to receive a portion of his salary in BTC. “We are very bullish on Bitcoin and we are looking to spread the Bitcoin gospel with this latest deal,” Nicolau’s manager Vinícius Las Casas said.

According to the announcement, Nicolau is the first Latin American athlete and the second UFC fighter to ever be paid in Bitcoin. In January, UFC heavyweight fighter Francis Ngannou announced that he will take half of his UFC 270 prize purse in Bitcoin via Cash App.

We're thrilled to announce the world's 1st Latin American athlete and the 2nd @ufc fighter ever to be paid in #bitcoin: @NicolauMatheus.

He is securing his paycheck.

He's fighting inflation.

Follow his lead: https://t.co/uZw32wkokH pic.twitter.com/6VbtQ3o3zc
— Bitwage (@Bitwage) March 21, 2022

By starting to get paid in BTC, Nicolau joins the growing list of celebrities, politicians and athletes realizing the importance of holding Bitcoin recently.

In January, three-time NBA champion Andre Iguodala announced that he would take a portion of his estimated $2.6 million annual salary in BTC. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, seven NFL players, including Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady and Trevor Lawrence, decided to begin either getting their entire paycheck in crypto or having a portion of salary converted to crypto in 2021.

Latin America