Kavak, one of the largest Latam-based startups in the used car business, has issued tokenized debt to invest in the Brazilian car market. According to local sources, the company has already tokenized almost million in commercial notes using Liqi, a tokenization platform, and aims to issue over million. Kavak Bets on Tokenized Debt […]
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Mexican Billionaire Ricardo Salinas Doubles Down on Bitcoin, Advises Using It as Inflation Hedge
Ricardo Salinas, the third wealthiest man in Mexico, has recently doubled down on his proposal to use Bitcoin as a reserve asset. On social media, Salinas defended the role of Bitcoin as an inflation hedge, commenting on a post that presented inflation as a hidden tax on fiat money and advised his followers to purchase […]
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Latam Insights: Mexican Billionaire Ricardo Salinas Recommends Purchasing Bitcoin, Cardano Partners Argentine Province
Welcome to Latam Insights, a compendium of Latin America’s most relevant crypto and economic news during the last week. In this issue: Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas advises purchasing Bitcoin, Cardano partners with an Argentine province, and Argentina launches a VASP registry. Mexican Billionaire Ricardo Salinas Urges Followers to Buy Bitcoin as Nigerian Naira Falls Under […]
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Mexican Billionaire Says to Buy Bitcoin, Musk vs. Nakamoto, and More — Week in Review
Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego has urged his followers to buy Bitcoin. Elon Musk, currently the world’s wealthiest individual, could be surpassed by Bitcoin’s anonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. In Nigeria, artist Davido faced backlash after allegedly scamming investors by pocketing 4,000 from his meme coin sale. Some Russian companies are resorting to cryptocurrencies like USDT […]
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Mexican Billionaire Ricardo Salinas Urges Followers to Buy Bitcoin as Nigerian Naira Falls Under a Satoshi
Ricardo Salinas Pliego, one of the wealthiest billionaires in Mexico, has urged his followers to purchase Bitcoin as a hedge against the devaluation of fiat currencies. Salinas Pliego recommended purchasing bitcoin in response to a social media post reporting on the fall of the value of the Nigerian naira under a satoshi. Mexican Billionaire Ricardo […]
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Latam Insights: Mexican Billionaire Ricardo Salinas’ Bitcoin Investment Advice, Bitso’s Latam Trends Report
Welcome to Latam Insights, a compendium of Latin America’s most relevant crypto and economic news during the last week. In this issue: Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego offers bitcoin investment advice, Bitso’s report finds Latam is a bitcoin region, and Honduras bans financial institutions from dealing with crypto. Mexican Billionaire Ricardo Salinas Gives Bitcoin Investment […]
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Mexican Billionaire Outlines 4 Key Reasons to Buy Bitcoin — Says ‘You Have to Know How to Invest’
Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas has outlined four key reasons why investors should buy bitcoin, including long-term growth potential, diversification, and protection against inflation and currency devaluation. Moreover, he advised: “You have to know how to invest and be patient, not get scared when it goes down and buy, and not get excited when it goes […]
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Mexican Billionaire Advocates Bitcoin for Wealth Protection — ‘People Need to Realize They’re Being Robbed’
Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas sees bitcoin as a way to protect against inflation tax because the cryptocurrency cannot be debased. “People’s savings are being taken from them without their permission, without their knowledge,” he stressed, adding that “everybody would benefit from understanding that the debasement of currency is a very useful trick in the fraudsters’ trick book to avoid raising taxes or debt.”
Ricardo Salinas on Benefits of Bitcoin
Ricardo Salinas, chairman of Grupo Salinas, discussed how bitcoin can affect an economy, particularly in Latin America, in an interview with Bitcoin Magazine, published Friday.
“All over the world, not just in Mexico or Latin America, what we’re seeing is this increasing inflation tax, which means that the people’s savings are being taken from them without their permission, without their knowledge, and it’s very sad, especially for people who depend on this for their retirement,” he began, adding:
So bitcoin is a way to protect against that because it cannot be debased.
“So the importance of bitcoin is that it’s tax resistant and many other things, but very specifically applied to hyperinflationary economies, which we have several in Latin America,” the Mexican billionaire added.
When asked about what needs to happen in Mexico for mass bitcoin adoption, Salinas replied: “The first thing that needs to happen is people need to realize that they’re being scammed, that they are being robbed by these crooks and the government.” He stressed: “That’s what they are, they’re fraudsters. They commit fraud and they stand there and say ‘how are we doing monetary policy’ and they’re just stealing people blind.”
The billionaire emphasized: “So first thing that needs to happen is people need to understand how this works so they can then defend against that but these ‘gobiernicolas,’ these government cavemen as I call them, they’re not dumb and they’re not stupid and they’re not going to give away this power they have to confiscate people’s wealth, so you gotta take it from them.”
He opined:
I think everybody would benefit from understanding that the debasement of currency is a very useful trick in the fraudsters’ trick book to avoid raising taxes or debt.
Regarding how a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) will affect BTC, he said: “Obviously, an ETF is a new source of demand. It makes it easier for people to invest in bitcoin so that’s great. It’s what’s needed. But precisely because it’s great and what’s needed, it’s precisely because of that reason that the crooks in power don’t allow it to proceed.” He noted that the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, “knows exactly what we’re talking about.” The billionaire concluded:
He [Gensler] has very good reasons not to allow, as well as the people in the Treasury and the Fed, they all know perfectly well it’s not about protecting investors, it’s about protecting their way of financing government spending without raising taxes.
Do you agree with Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas? Let us know in the comments section below.
Ugandan Fintech Asaak Acquires Mexican Asset Financing Startup Flexclub
The Ugandan mobility fintech Asaak recently spread its tentacles to Latin America after it bought the Mexican asset financing business Flexclub. The fintech’s CEO suggested that his company’s successful and profitable microfinance business partly influenced the decision to acquire the Mexican startup.
Asaak’s Profitable Business
The Ugandan mobility fintech Asaak recently said it acquired car financing startup Flexclub Mexico for an undisclosed sum. According to one report, Asaak’s acquisition of the Mexican asset financing startup will potentially expose the Uganda-based startup firm to the Mexican microfinance market and the South African car rental market. Flexclub has reportedly pivoted away from the Mexican market.
Kaivan Sattar, the co-founder and CEO of the Ugandan fintech, suggested that his company’s successful and profitable microfinance business had partly influenced the decision to acquire the Mexican startup.
As explained in a Techcabal report, Asaak’s decision to acquire Flexclub Mexico might have been influenced by the fact that the same investor funds both startups.
“As active investors in both Asaak and FlexClub, simple.Capital() spotted an opportunity to procure the acquisition of FlexClub’s Mexican business by Asaak. We congratulate both management teams on the closing of this transaction which we believe has significant benefits for both Asaak and FlexClub,” Blake Musgrove, partner and Chief Investment Officer at Simple.capital, reportedly said.
Meanwhile, Tinashe Ruzane, the CEO and co-founder of Flexclub, said a decision to exit the Mexican market has enabled the startup to focus its efforts on the South African market.
What are your thoughts on this story? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Is Mexican Exchange Bitso Behind El Salvador’s Chivo Wallet?
The mystery of the Chivo wallet persists. And Bitso comes into the picture as part of a more credible report confirmed through official channels. It seems like NewsBTC was right to doubt Forbes’s article about BitGo being behind the Chivo wallet. This Reuters report, on the other hand, comes with specific information and quotes confirming the news. For example:
“We are looking forward to working with El Salvador in an initiative that will transform payment structures and increase financial inclusion in the country,” said Santiago Alvarado, vice-president of Bitso for Business.
Related Reading | Bitcoin Price Bloodbath: Is El Salvador A “Sell The News” Event?
Even that could be considered evasive, it doesn’t refer to the Chivo wallet specifically. This chunky bit of information, on the other hand, leaves little to the imagination.
“Bitso said it will work with Silvergate Bank, a U.S. federally-regulated and California state-chartered bank, to facilitate transactions in U.S. dollars.”
The language suggests they’re talking business.
El Salvador made history by becoming the first country to make Bitcoin legal tender, and today, we’re proud to announce that Bitso is committed to building and developing El Salvador’s vision of Bitcoin by being the core crypto-service provider for Chivo.Let’s #MakeCryptoUseful https://t.co/2rrTNDdXab
— Bitso (@Bitso) September 7, 2021
If Bitso Is Behind The Wallet, What’s The Deal With BitGo?
On the other hand, in the BitGo report, the language suggested otherwise. The quote from BitGo’s CEO was non-comital and it all sounded like a paid press release. NewsBTC questioned:
“The most worrying sentence, however, is “Forbes has learned El Salvador appears to have tapped…” They’re not committing to anything here. It “appears” this way, but nothing is certain.”
However, could both companies be involved? Reuters says Bitso will be “the core service provider for Chivo.” Forbes said that BitGo would “provide Chivo’s wallet infrastructure and security platform.” Are both of these statements contradictory? Or are both of these giant companies behind the controversial Chivo wallet?
A funny detail is that Bitso’s name was present in the leak of the Chivo wallet’s architecture that our sister site Bitcoinist reported on. BitGo’s name wasn’t. And Athena was at the center of the whole operation. Still, it’s a funny detail.
One thing’s for sure, Strike seems to be completely out of the picture. In a recent Twitter thread, Strike’s CEO Jack Mallers clearly said “Strike has no business relationship with Chivo wallet or any of their ATMs.”
All that was needed was interoperability with the #Bitcoin network.
Strike has no business relationship with @chivowallet or any of their ATMs.
We simply both integrated and operate on top of the same, singular, payment standard that is #Bitcoin and the Lightning Network.
— Jack Mallers (@jackmallers) September 7, 2021
Mallers seems to be perfectly fine with the situation. “With the Bitcoin network, there is one singular, open standard for the world,” he says later on in the thread.
BTC price chart for 09/10/2021 on Bittrex | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
Remittances Are The Key
In the days prior to the Bitcoin Law coming into effect, Bitcoinist quoted the executive president of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, Dante Mossi. He said their eyes were on remittances and that:
“Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador are the countries that would have the most to gain if the adoption of bitcoin lowered the cost of sending remittances.” All countries in his organization’s area of influence.
Instead of focusing on how much Salvadorans are going to get back, a recent report about how much Western Union is going to lose with El Salvador’s Bitcoin move recently made the news. About it, Bitcoinist said:
“With bitcoin though, the middleman, in this case, Western Union and the likes, are completely removed from the process. The funds sent go directly to the recipient without the need for a processing fee to a third party. It is estimated that these remittance companies are set to lose about 0 million a year when remittances are routed through bitcoin instead.”
Related Reading | Bitso Raises Over US.85m to Boost Mexican Bitcoin Remittance
As it turns out, remittances are Bitso ’s specialty. The company processed “more than .2 billion in remittances between the United States and Mexico in 2020.” In the article, Reuters quotes Santiago Alvarado again:
“As the leading crypto exchange in the region, we are thrilled to bring our experience in remittances and in secure and low-friction financial services to Salvadorans.”
So, this all makes sense. Still, the mystery of the Chivo wallet continues.
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