Welcome to Latam Insights, a summary of the most important cryptocurrency and economic news from Latin America during the past week. In this edition: Bitso’s research identifies Latam as a bitcoin region, Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego advises investors on bitcoin investments, and Honduras forbids financial institutions from handling cryptocurrencies.
Mexican Billionaire Ricardo Salinas Offers Investment Guidance for Bitcoin
On social networking platform X on Monday, Mexican billionaire and Grupo Salinas chairman Ricardo Salinas, who is well-known for supporting bitcoin, shared his thoughts on the recent spike in cryptocurrencies. He provided advice on investing in bitcoin and outlined four arguments in favor of investors considering Bitcoin purchases.
Salinas made the following recommendations:
Investing in bitcoin is similar to placing a wager on a young, potentially lucrative business. Bitcoin has grown remarkably since its introduction, exceeding many other investment kinds in terms of returns despite being risky and volatile.
In addition, Salinas discussed the unique volatility of the cryptocurrency market and cautioned prospective buyers against acting hastily based only on price movements. “You need to understand how to invest, have patience, and not get excited when the market rises and sell, or scared when it falls.”
According to Bitso, Latam users still prefer Bitcoin.
Bitso, a Mexican cryptocurrency exchange that operates in multiple Latin American nations, has analyzed the patterns that Latin American consumers adhered to in 2023. Julian Colombo, CEO of Bitso Argentina, informed local media that Latam was primarily a bitcoin-centric market, with the first cryptocurrency being present in more than half of the wallets, when the exchange kicked off 2024.
According to Bitso’s data, ether constituted only 16% of all the quantities held in Latam, while bitcoin accounted for 53%. Stablecoins also attained 5%.
Financial Institutions Are Not Allowed to Make or Facilitate Crypto Transactions in Honduras
A notification prohibiting banks and other financial institutions from handling cryptocurrency in any way was released by the National Banking and Insurance Commission of Honduras. As to the notification, these are prohibited from “maintaining, investing, facilitating, or conducting business with cryptocurrency, crypto assets, virtual currencies, tokens, or any other comparable virtual asset, which have not been issued or approved by the Central Bank of Honduras.”
Additionally, the commission prohibits using these institutions’ services to carry out operations using this form of tool.
The Honduran Central Bank has already issued a warning against the risks associated with cryptocurrencies, emphasizing that they “do not have support, so they are not regulated nor is their use guaranteed.”
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