LATAM News (English)

These are English-language news items related to Bitcoin and LATAM (Latin America):

Bitcoin Daily: Venezuela's Simon Bolivar Int'l Airport to Accept Crypto for Flights; BitPay, Wix to Team on Crypto Payments

Published on october 12, 2021

Simón Bolivar International Airport, which is Venezuela’s largest airport and also known as Maiquetía, will add bitcoin, Dash and Petro as payment options for clients buying tickets, CryptoPotato reported. Petro is a Venezuelan government-issued digital asset. Airport Director Freddy Borges said in the report that the idea is to make payments more modern and universal. […]

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Latino-Focused Lender Oportun Scraps Bank Charter After CFPB Probe

Published on october 11, 2021

Oportun, a specialist in low- to moderate-income lending, which services many Latinos, has withdrawn its application for a bank charter. The withdrawal was voluntary, and a report from the company says the CFPB was looking into claims that Oportun had violated consumer protection laws with its collection practices, especially those which centered around hardship treatments […]

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A First Look At The Chivo App, El Salvador's Bitcoin Wallet

Published on october 11, 2021

Discussing and explaining the technicalities of El Salvador’s government-directed bitcoin wallet, Chivo.

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Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele Announces Construction of Vet Hospital With Bitcoin Trust Funds

Published on october 11, 2021

Nayib Bukele, president of El Salvador, announced yesterday he will start using surplus funds from the country’s bitcoin trust. Part of the $4 million excedent will be invested in a vet hospital that will offer different services for the pets of Salvadoran citizens. Bukele explained this is possible due to the bitcoin price increase in […]

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Travelers Will Be Able to Purchase Airline Tickets With Crypto in Venezuela

Published on october 11, 2021

Travelers will be able to purchase airline tickets in Venezuela using cryptocurrencies in the near future. According to statements made by Freddy Borges, Director of the Maiquetía International Airport, the institution would be working to include cryptocurrencies such as dash, bitcoin, and the national petro as supported currencies in the airport’s payment system. Airport to […]

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‘Identity Theft’ Criminals Plundering El Salvador Bitcoin Wallet Funds

Published on october 11, 2021

een stealing others’ identities to register the app in other people’s names, using stolen ID documents to complete the process – allowing them to accrue larger quantities of BTC.The newspaper El Diario de Hoy’s website

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El Salvador to build $4M veterinary hospital using profits from Bitcoin trust

Published on october 10, 2021

Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele said no Bitcoin will be sold to fund the investment, with the state instead drawing USD from its Bitcoin trust.

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Vitalik Buterin Calls Mandatory Use of Bitcoin in El Salvador Counter to Crypto’s ‘Ideals of Freedom’

Published on october 8, 2021

The Ethereum co-founder’s comments appear to refer to an article in El Salvador’s Bitcoin law, but in reality, the requirement for merchants to accept bitcoin is not that clear.

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El Salvador’s President a Bitcoin Booster, But Data Point to Uneven Embrace

Published on october 8, 2021

Roughly a month into the grand bitcoin experiment in El Salvador, how it’s going depends on how you look at it. In the “it’s going gangbusters” camp, we might present as Exhibit A the fast and furious tweets of President Bukele, who said on that social media platform Thursday (Oct. 7), “Since yesterday, Salvadorans are inserting more […]

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Colombian FinTech Movii Closes $15M Series B

Published on october 8, 2021

Colombian FinTech Movii raised $15 million in a Series B funding round led by Square and Greg Kidd’s investment fund Hard Yaka, according to reports on Friday (Oct. 9). The fresh infusion of capital is being earmarked for the development of a cryptocurrency-buying platform and to grow its existing line of products. “With our new […]

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