Latam Insights: Bukele Used Bitcoin as a Rebranding Tool; Bitcoin Mining Companies Stop Operating in Paraguay After Power Fee Hikes

Welcome to Latam Insights, a compendium of Latin America’s most relevant crypto and economic news from the past week. In this issue: Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele acknowledges that bitcoin rebranded the country, some bitcoin mining companies have stopped operating in Paraguay after the recent power fee hikes, and Argentines lead Latam in stablecoin adoption. Bukele […]

Why Socialism Fails: A Misesian Perspective

Socialism, despite its promises of equality and social welfare, inherently fails due to its inability to perform economic calculation and its reliance on coercive control over the means of production. Ludwig von Mises, in his seminal work “Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis,” provides a comprehensive critique of socialism’s flaws rooted in both economic and […]

Plastic Surgery Fails to Help Crypto Scammer Evade Arrest After 10 Months

South Korean police arrested a man in his 40s for orchestrating a cryptocurrency scam that defrauded 158 investors of 16 billion won ($12 million). Operating from November 2021 to June 2022, he promised an 18% monthly return on investments in a fake cryptocurrency mining business. The scam resulted in individual losses ranging from 1.2 million […]

Russian Economy Sees Growth Despite Western Sanctions and Declining Imports

The Russian economy has experienced substantial growth across various sectors, with unemployment rates remaining historically low, despite ongoing Western sanctions related to the Ukraine conflict. Industrial production, driven by military manufacturing, saw a 3.3% increase in July, and the GDP growth rate for the first half of the year reached 4.6%, compared to 1.8% in […]

Court Approves BTC Loan for Bankrupt Bitcoin Mining Firm

Rhodium Encore LLC, a bankrupt bitcoin mining company, has received court approval for a unique debtor-in-possession financing plan that allows borrowing in either U.S. dollars or bitcoin. Galaxy Digital Holdings Ltd., a blockchain firm led by Mike Novogratz, has offered to provide Rhodium with a loan of either $30 million in dollars or 500 bitcoin. […]

Coinbase Reports Its First AI-to-AI Crypto Transaction

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced the platform’s first AI-to-AI cryptocurrency transaction, highlighting a new application of digital currency by artificial intelligence agents. Armstrong believes this advancement will enhance AI’s capacity to independently obtain resources and engage with humans and other AI systems. He encourages developers to add crypto wallets to support the growth of AI-to-AI […]

Frax Finance Launches Frax Name Service for Decentralized Identity Management

Frax Finance has launched the Frax Name Service (FNS), a decentralized identity service that allows users to register unique names on the Frax blockchain. Frax Finance Expands Ecosystem With Launch of Frax Name Service Frax Finance has introduced the Frax Name Service (FNS), a decentralized identity service designed specifically for the Frax ecosystem. FNS is […]

Brazilian Supreme Court Bans X, Imposes Fines for VPN Circumvention

The Brazilian Supreme Court ordered a nationwide ban on X after a prior order mandating the social platform to assign a local representative was ignored. Brazilians began to lose access to the site on Saturday, as the Supreme Court prohibited citizens from using virtual private network (VPN) software to circumvent the blockage, establishing fines of […]

US Election-Year Bull Runs: How Bitcoin Historically Surged Post-Victory

With just 65 days remaining until the U.S. presidential election, bitcoin wrapped up August with an 8.6% decline compared to where it started the month. Historically, in the last two election cycles, bitcoin’s value has only shown substantial appreciation after the election had ended and a victor was declared. From 2012 to 2020: How Bitcoin […]