The Committee of Monetary Policy (COPOM) of Argentina’s Central Bank (BCRA) has announced it intends to increase the peso's monetary base by 2.5% per month for the next two months on Sept. 18. “To ensure monetary and financial stability” The move is meant to ensure monetary and financial stability. The bank believes that the inflation of the Argentine peso caused by depreciation suggests a reduction in real monetary supply. The new exchange rate also lets observers project a real demand for sustained money. The bank concludes that — given limited liquidity — it is necessary to update the originally established …

Singapore-based crypto and blockchain company Huobi Group has rolled out an exchange in Argentina, planning to add support for a fiat-to-cryptocurrency gateway. Per a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Sept. 17, Huobi officially launched Huobi Argentina using Huobi Cloud, a service that allows users to build over-the-counter (OTC) and digital asset exchanges on top of Huobi’s existing platform. Fiat-to-crypto gateway For now, Huobi Argentina’s users can purchase digital currencies with Argentine Pesos (ARS) using Huobi’s OTC service, but the exchange is planning to set up a fiat gateway to trade ARS for crypto in October of this year. This …

The Spanish-speaking world is seeing major cryptocurrency and blockchain developments with Uruguay approving a new bill that could be applied positively to initial coin offerings (ICOs), Cuba using crypto to access the global economy and Venezuela finally installing its first Bitcoin (BTC) ATM. Here is the past week of crypto and blockchain news in review, as originally reported by Cointelegraph en Español. Argentinian Bitex stops accepting balance charges in U.S. dollars Cointelegraph en Español reported on Sept. 12, that the economic crisis in Argentina is now taking its toll on the country’s cryptocurrency operations. The Bitex firm, a blockchain financial …

The United Kingdom, the United States, Hong Kong and Singapore have the largest number of registered digital currency exchanges, according to data from Bitfury’s blockchain analytics platform Crystal. Crystal published its “Report on International Bitcoin Flows 2013–2019” on Sept. 9, in which it provides insight into cryptocurrency operations and Bitcoin (BTC) transactions around the world between Jan. 1, 2013, and June 30, 2019. U.K. and U.S. lead the rating The findings show that the largest number of registered crypto exchanges are in the U.K., the U.S., Hong Kong and Singapore. Countries such as Argentina, India, Mexico, Russia and Indonesia report …

Argentina has reimposed capital controls, limiting citizens’ and businesses’ freedom to buy foreign currency. As Bloomberg reported on Sep. 1, the increasingly troubled South American nation took the step as the Argentine peso (ARS) suffers overwhelming losses against major fiat currencies such as the U.S. dollar. Argentina puts $10K limit on dollar access Argentina has shown an affinity for Bitcoin (BTC) in recent times, with trade volumes accelerating as uncertainty around the economy grew. Last month, a premium appeared on the country’s cryptocurrency exchanges. Now, access to hard currency is restricted to just $10,000 for individuals looking to dump ARS …

A new partnership between a development bank, a nongovernmental organization (NGO) and a tech corporation is eyeing the creation of a blockchain-based identity system to improve financial inclusion in Buenos Aires. IDB Lab (the Innovation Laboratory of the Inter-American Development Bank Group), NGO Bitcoin Argentina and the Argentine subsidiary of NEC Corporation announced they had signed a memorandum of understanding to pursue the project on Aug. 26. Using blockchain to tackle the poverty penalty As NEC’s news release outlines, data from the Buenos Aires City Government reveals that 16.2% of the city's inhabitants live below the poverty line. This economic …

Coming every Sunday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link. Top Stories This Week Premiums for Bitcoin in Hong Kong and Argentina despite price slump Bitcoin (BTC) briefly veered back into four figures this week — reversing recent gains. It comes amid cooling tensions between the United States and China in their long-running trade war, with Washington deciding to delay the introduction of new tariffs that would have affected …

Bitcoin (BTC) exchange Bitex has partnered with Uruguay-based financial software company Bantotal in order to expand it cross-border payments system on the Bitcoin blockchain to Latin America. CoinDesk announced the companies’ new partnership in a report on Aug. 13. According to the report, the upshot of this partnership is that Bantotal’s clients will have access to Bitex’s exchange services via a marketplace that hosts traditional financial services in its BDevelopers program. Per the report, Bitex will act as a middleman service for cross-border payments. The exchange’s role is to convert from fiat currency to BTC, and then back to fiat …

Bitcoin (BTC) continues to trade at a premium in Argentina after a sharp currency devaluation sent investors running for a safe haven. Argentine peso plunges 30% Data from local cryptocurrency exchange Buenbit put Bitcoin trading around $11,750 at press time Aug. 13, compared to around $11,330 on major global exchanges. When a shock defeat of incumbent president Mauricio Macri in the primary elections sparked the rout in the Argentine peso (ARS) on Monday, the Bitcoin premium was higher, implied BTC/USD passing $12,300 on Buenbit. In USD terms, the peso’s collapse was even more apparent, jumping from 45 pesos to a …

Trading volume on Finnish peer-to-peer (P2P) bitcoin (BTC) exchange Localbitcoins hit a high not seen since November 2018, reveals data shown on cryptocurrency analytics website CoinDance. According to data from CoinDance, LocalBitcoins global weekly bitcoin trading volume hit $65.6 million in the week ending on Sunday, July 7. This is the highest level since November last year when the weekly trading volume of the platform hit $67.7 million in the week ending on Sunday, November 24, 2018. LocalBitcoins Global Weekly Trading Volume | Courtesy of CoinDance In some countries, last week represented an all-time high LocalBitcoins volume. For instance, in …

Latin American social networking giant Taringa! has partnered with MakerDAO and e-wallet provider Airtm to launch a stablecoin-powered points system for its 27 million strong user base. According to an official Taringa! news release published on July 7, the development was revealed on Friday during the Blockchain Summit Latam in Mexico City. The pilot program, dubbed “Taringa! Pioneers,” will reportedly reward users with points for creating popular platform content, which can then be monetized by being converted into MakerDAO’s Ethereum blockchain-based stablecoin DAI. Taringa!’s news release places a strong accent on the program’s potential to offer users a secure and …

Coming every week, the Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions, and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link. Top Stories This Week Kik Launches $5 Million Crypto Funding Campaign for Lawsuit Against U.S. SEC Kik, a Canadian tokenized social media startup, has launched a $5 million crypto initiative in order to fund a lawsuit against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Kik CEO Ted Livingstone, also the founder of Kik’s crypto project the Kin …