Market update: wave of crypto adoption rolls across Latin America


After El Salvador introduced Bitcoin as legal tender, the adoption wave in Latin America is picking up speed. Uruguay and Colombia are gradually embedding cryptocurrencies in the economic cycle. The market update.

The calm before the storm continues to prevail on the crypto market. The total market capitalization is up 3.5 percentage points on a daily basis, but it is still unable to break the USD 1.7 trillion mark. Meanwhile, the Bitcoin price is approaching the 40,000 mark again with a daily plus of three percent and is almost 1,000 US dollars away from the key mark at the time of going to press.

Of the ten largest cryptocurrencies, Polkadot (DOT) and Uniswap (UNI) have increased the most, each with around 10 percent. The Ether course (ETH) also posted a considerable plus of eight percent. With the hard fork “London”, Ethereum is now facing an important upgrade that not only affects the fee policy of the second largest cryptocurrency. With three percent, the Binance Coin (BNB) also sets itself apart from the previous day’s level, while Cardano (ADA), XRP and Dogecoin (DOGE) have increased between one and two percent.

Wave of crypto adoption in Latin America

When El Salvador recognized Bitcoin as legal tender in June, a domino effect was predicted in Latin America. So far, El Salvador has remained alone with the radical advance, but crypto-friendly regulatory tendencies are currently emerging in large parts of South America.

Uruguayan Senator Juan Sartori has one on August 3rd Bill on the regulation of cryptocurrencies. The draft aims to regulate the use of cryptocurrencies in the economy, like Sartori on Twitter wrote:

Cryptocurrencies are an opportunity to create investments and jobs. Today we introduce a global pioneering draft law that aims to establish legitimate, legal and safe use in companies associated with the production and distribution of virtual currencies in Uruguay.

Specifically, the draft is about the design of a legally secure framework for the economic cycle of issuing, custody and trading of cryptocurrencies. The draft suggests three licenses for this. The first license is limited to payment service providers and provides for a registration requirement for stock exchanges. The second license applies to crypto custodians, while a third category regulates the issuance of crypto assets and tokens.

The draft thus closes an important gap in Uruguayan legislation and creates legal certainty for the entire crypto-economy. The draft has yet to find a majority in the Senate, but should find the support of the ruling party Partido Nacional, of which Juan Sartori is a member.

Colombia regulates the crypto industry

As if they had agreed, the Colombian Senator Mauricio Toro also has “comprehensive regulation for trading in crypto assets” for his country announced. the draft with the bulky title “To regulate the crypto-asset services offered via crypto-asset exchange platforms” essentially aims to contain the black market, promote alternatives to the traditional banking system and ensure safer transactions. The Colombian draft also provides for corresponding registration obligations for relevant companies and service providers with the supervisory authorities.

Spain wants to promote blockchain use

Last but not least, Spain is also getting carried away by the wave of adoptions. Like the Spanish newspaper 20 minutes reported, the Partido Popular (PP) wants to “allow the use of cryptocurrencies to pay mortgages”. The measure is part of the bill for the digital transformation of Spain and is ultimately intended to enable investment funds and companies in the real estate sector to use their own cryptocurrencies.

In addition, the use of blockchain technology is to be expanded. In the future, “banks will use blockchain technology to manage mortgages and insurance and to accelerate compensation”. To this end, the use of smart contracts is also to be “expanded to include insurance policies”. In addition, other uses of blockchain technology in tracking grocery chains and in healthcare are foreseen.