Leonardo Cositorto, CEO of Generación Zoe, creates a new project with the same fraudulent scheme.
Mexico’s cartels prefer banks, not bitcoin, for their illicit activities.
Bitcoin en español is the weekly newsletter of CriptoNoticias in which we review the most important facts related to bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and blockchains in the Hispanic world.
News from the Argentine ecosystem captured most of the interest in this week’s news environment. The clause of the agreement that the country signed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and calls for discouraging the use of cryptocurrencies, set off the alarms of bitcoiners.
The statistics on the inflationary issue and the economic crisis is another of the points that occupies both Argentines and Venezuelans. This, while some aspects related to legal and regulatory decisions, along with news about the Ponzi Generation Zoe scheme and money laundering with cryptocurrencies, were also in the debate of Latin American public opinion.
To go to the detail of the news of each Spanish-speaking country during the past week, we leave you the most recent Bitcoin in Spanish. Argentina
The NGO Bitcoin Argentina asked the government for access to public information related to the recent agreement that was signed with the International Monetary Fund.
The request was addressed to the Minister of Economy, Martín Guzmán, and in it he referred to the implications of one of the sections of the agreement that speaks of the establishment of policies aimed at discouraging the cryptocurrency market.
For this reason, the NGO asked Guzmán for explanations about the measures that the government would carry out, within the framework of the new program with the international credit agency.
Relevant participants in the Argentine bitcoin ecosystem, including Franco Bianchi and Franco Amati, agree that there is not yet enough information to get an idea of the repercussions. At the moment, the outlook looks uncertain.
Meanwhile, Argentina’s monthly inflation reached 4% during February, a percentage higher than that reached by Venezuela (the most inflationary country in the region) in the same period.
The data on inflation is one of the indicators of the economic problems that affect the South American country, whose advance pushes citizens to use bitcoin. This fact was recognized by Diego Fernández, Secretary of Innovation and Digital Transformation of the government of Buenos Aires. The official acknowledged that cryptocurrency serves as an aid to survive in the face of the crisis.
For its part, Banco Santander together with the company Agrotoken launched a loan program for Argentine farmers with tokens developed in Ethereum, Polygon and Algorand. The prices of these digital assets will be linked to that of commodities such as soybeans, corn and wheat.
In terms of security, it was learned that Leonardo Cositorto, promoter of the Zoe Cash token and CEO of Generación ZOE – now a fugitive from Argentine justice – created a new project called Sunrise Coach.
The promoter, accused of fraud, gave a Zoom lecture from an unknown place to talk about the supposed benefits of his venture, while leaving many of the participants of the old Generation Zoe scheme without their money.
On the other hand, earlier in the week a hack was reported to Mercado Libre, in what is presumed to be another blow by the cybercriminal group Lapsus$. Through the attack, access to the data of 300,000 users and the source code of the platform were breached. El Salvador
The Central American country is waiting for the launch of bitcoin-based bonds, also known as volcano bonds. But first, a package of 52 laws must be approved that will serve as the basis for the operation of the bonds.
President Nayib Bukele said the first 10 legal reforms would be announced this week. Moving forward with these reforms is likely to be ready at any time between now and March 20, Finance Minister Alejandro Zelaya said.
Meanwhile, in the Salvadoran capital, several government entities and a Christian foundation called Jerusalem are handing out 9,000 scholarships for young people to learn how to trade bitcoin. The training is in charge of Harvest Trading Cap Academy, a company from the Dominican Republic dedicated to investing in the stock market and trading cryptocurrencies. Spain
In tax matters, the lack of sufficiently clear criteria to correctly declare taxes on cryptocurrencies, by the tax authorities of Spain, is generating uncertainty among investors. This was expressed by the Spanish economist, Juan Ramón Rallo.
Rallo talked about the tax issue with Paula Urcera, in charge of Tax Affairs at the company TaxDown, and Alberto Toribio, head of Institutional Relations at CryptoPlaza.
Spain requires residents who invest in cryptocurrencies to pay taxes on the performance of different products. However, the accelerated growth of the sector, as well as the variety and usefulness of the products, seems to be complicating the picture.
On March 14, the European Parliament voted 32 to 24 against the final version of the European Union bill that included a controversial rule that would affect bitcoin mining. It is known that the Spanish parliamentarians voted as follows: Jonás Fernández, PSOE, in favor of banning. Isabel Benjumea Benjumea and José Manuel García-Margallo, PP, opposites. Luis Garicano, Ciudadanos, abstained.
However, despite the vote, which had been postponed weeks earlier, mining is not out of the woodwork as opposing parliamentarians, including some from Spain, still have the possibility of appealing the decision. Mexico
According to a report by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), traditional banks remain the preferred mechanisms for money laundering.
The agency, which does coordinated work with other organizations formed by UN member states, investigated the activities of Mexico’s drug cartels, including Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa.
He explains that, although there is an increase in the use of cryptocurrencies in small quantities, the movements of these criminal groups are based on the smuggling of cash in large volumes, alternative remittance systems (such as hawala) and, payments through mobile devices Venezuela
In a controversial decision, Venezuela’s Supreme Court of Justice this week annulled the injunction of a court that had favored a Bitcoin mining company, whose equipment was confiscated by the National Superintendence of Cryptoassets (SUNACRIP).
The highest Venezuelan judicial body revoked the ruling of the First Contentious Administrative National Court of the Capital Region, which, in November, ruled against SUNACRIP. The decision came after the agency inspected two mining farms and seized the equipment, claiming that those activities had not been recorded.
Although recent data suggest that Argentine inflation was higher than that of Venezuela in February, Venezuela continues to be affected by the phenomenon of inflation. In this period, inflation in the Caribbean country was 1.7% against that of more than 4% in Argentina.
Despite this, the feeling of improvement has to do with the fact that the country governed by Nicolás Maduro has five consecutive months of monthly inflation below double digits, and twelve months with inflation below 50%. A fact that has taken him out of hyperinflation, but not from the economic crisis he has suffered for several years.
Among the events related to bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and blockchains in the region for this week, the following stand out in the CriptoNoticias calendar:
Wednesday, March 16: “NFT’s”, discussion on non-fungible tokens, organized by Web3 Latam.