Integra Five LATAM Dispatch
May 27th, 2022
Crypto growing in Latin America adoption: new economy update
Bloomberg’s inaugural New Economy Gateway Latin America event held in Panama City discussed the key issues of the speed of adaptation for cryptocurrencies, growing populism and the potential to leverage relationships with the US and China.
Latin America is receiving large numbers of investors in cryptocurrency according to Brock Pierce, the chairman of The Bitcoin Foundation and founder of Tether. “We are absolutely seeing large numbers of people in LatAm using this technology for things like remittances. The fundamentals are there.”
Davos 2022: Latin America’s path to a resilient economic recovery
Latin America is recovering from the effects of Covid-19 on the economy. The energy transition in Latin America is very important, as large part of the world’s biodiversity lives in Latin America and is at great threat from the effects of climate change.
50% of Colombia’s surface area is rainforest and the Amazon specifically taking up 35% of the space. President Ivan Duque says that it is a responsibility to set ambitious goals and implement urgent action towards net-zero by 2050. Duque said, “Resilience means turning adversity into opportunity.”
The president of Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves Robles, said that the country will be focusing on measures to tackle river pollution, sanitation, waste management and the renewable energy transition. “We can’t sacrifice the future for economic gain”
Cold Beer to your door: brewers in Latin America go direct
Lockdowns normalized home delivery for all things fast food, to household items such as ibuprofen. However, during this time brewers in Brazil took the opportunity to embrace the new sales format by delivering cold beer on demand. Their new sales format continues as consumers still gather at home with friends or bars. It is often cheaper to order cold beer for delivery to one’s home than to drive to the supermarket to pick it up and risk it being tepid upon return.
Brazil has quite the thirst for beer, and Latin America is proving to be a natural fit for the new delivery format as consumers typically have limited refrigeration capacity and a love for gathering for sport events. Euromintor drinks analyst Spiros Malandrakis said that “Home has become the entertainment hub, and there’s no better way to reach (consumers) than with direct retailing.”
Brazil announces partnership with Elon Musk to connect Amazon rainforest
The Brazilian government has announced a partnership with Starlink, an Elon Musk company for the operation of satellites in the Amazon rainforest. The plan was announced when Musk met the President Jair Bolsonaro on the 20th of May. The benefits of Starlink which will go live over the Amazon will provide broadband to schools and help monitor fires and logging within the rainforest. Musk wrote on Twitter that Starlink would connect 19,000 schools in rural areas
President Bolsonaro has been criticized for his administration’s handling of environmental matters in Brazil. Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon rose 64% between January and March 2022 compared to the same period a year ago, according to the national space agency Inpe.
The head of state stressed that Musk’s visit to Brazil is a “milestone” for the country and that technology will show the “truth” about how the Amazon is preserved. “Of course, there are niches for fires and irregular deforestation. But the arrival of satellites will help us preserve [the rainforest].”
Brazil’s largest crypto exchange partners with Stellar to work on a CBDC
Mercado Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency and digital asset platform in Latin America announced its partnership with the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) to participate in the development of Brazil’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
Stellar is a is an open source, decentralized protocol for digital currency to fiat money low-cost transfers which allows cross-border transactions between any pair of currencies. Denelle Dixon, the CEO of Stellar Development Foundation said that Stellar is prepared to explore the different use cases for the future Real Digital (the Brazilian CBDC). This new partnership will allow them to help Mercado Bitcoin in the development of a blockchain product that could potentially change Brazil’s way of dealing with money.
“Stellar was designed for asset issuance, and its built-in compliance tools give Mercado Bitcoin a strong foundation to develop a solution with the features that Bacen expects to see”
Crypto Growing in Latin America Adoption: New Economy Update | Financial Post
Cold beer to your door: brewers in Latin America go direct | Reuters
Elon Musk’s Starlink granted license to operate in Brazil (zdnet.com)
Brazil’s Largest Crypto Exchange Partners With Stellar To Work on a CBDC (cryptopotato.com)
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