Welcome to Latam Insights, a compendium of Latin America’s most relevant crypto and economic news over the past week. In this week’s edition, President Nayib Bukele met Strategy’s Michael Saylor to discuss bitcoin, Sam Altman’s World is forced to stop operations in Brazil, and the Brazilian stock exchange will add solana and ether futures this year.
Latam Insights: Bukele Discusses Bitcoin With Strategy's Saylor, World Halts Operations in Brazil
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Saylor and Bukele Discuss How El Salvador Can Accelerate Global Bitcoin Adoption
Michael Saylor, executive chairman of Microstrategy (Nasdaq: MSTR), met with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele on Feb. 13 to discuss global bitcoin adoption.
Saylor shared some information about the meeting on social media platform X the following day, stating:
Yesterday, President Bukele and I had a great discussion about the opportunities for El Salvador to benefit from and accelerate global bitcoin adoption.
The National Bitcoin Office of El Salvador also acknowledged the meeting, posting on X: “President Bukele met with Michael Saylor this afternoon at Casa Presidencial. Bitcoin was discussed.”
This meeting came shortly after El Salvador amended its Bitcoin Law to comply with a $1.4 billion loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The legislative changes, passed by the country’s Congress, make bitcoin acceptance voluntary for businesses and prohibit its use for tax payments, scaling back its role in the economy.
Sam Altman’s World Halts Operations in Brazil: What’s Happening
World, the proof-of-personhood protocol that seeks to validate the humanity of its participants using biometric data, is facing difficulties derived from its business model in Brazil. The project lost an appeal directed to the National Data Protection Agency (ANDP), asking for a delay of 45 days to adapt to an earlier decision to stop the cryptocurrency rewards given to users enrolling in the project.
In a press release, the board of the ANDP disclosed that this order could be “carried out by other means, including postponing appointments, until the adjustment to the app is made.”
The decision comes after a preventive measure of the ANDP, asking the company to stop these crypto exchanges, was ignored, as the company continued to act supported by this now-denied appeal.
Largest Brazilian Stock Exchange to Expand Solana and Ether Investment Options
B3, the largest Brazilian stock exchange, has offered an update on its plans to offer investment products involving a larger array of cryptocurrencies. According to local media, the organization is preparing to launch futures contracts for both ether and solana, two popular crypto projects.
“We should launch cryptocurrency derivatives by the end of the year,” declared B3 CFO Andre Milanez at an event with journalists. However, he did not offer more details on the timeline of this upcoming launch.
Last year, B3 declared its intention to offer more options to crypto traders, that benefit from the volatility of these assets. At that time, B3 acknowledged there was a demand for more futures contracts based on other cryptocurrencies, primarily ether. “Just as the bitcoin futures contract was a market demand, the ethereum futures contract is also a demand,” said Felipe Gonçalves, superintendent of Interest and Currency Products at B3.
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