Latin America, Tipping Point: Axie Infinity Scholarships + Venezuela’s Petro

Do Latin America ‘s unique characteristics put the continent in position to adopt cryptocurrencies before the rest of the world? Or is El Salvador an isolated case? In Latin America, Tipping Point we’ll select the area’s most important headlines and summarize them in a few sentences and quotes. This is the jam-packed news compilation you were looking for.

Related Reading | Latin America, Tipping Point: Cuba Regulates, Honduras ATM, Venezuela Spends

In the following bullet points, we’ll dive into Axie Infinity’s relationship with Latin America, read the Bank of Mexico Governor embarrass himself, explore Brazil’s complex relationship with Bitcoin, and the differences between Venezuela’s Petro and the proposed Digital Bolivar.

Fasten your seatbelts, this is going to be fast but fulfilling.

AXS price chart on FTX | Source: AXS/USD on TradingView.com

Binance Grants Axie Infinity Scholarships In Latin America

• The Play-To-Earn game has become a source of income for the whole continent. However, each player needs three Axies and each Axie is at least $300. It’s not cheap to play Axie Infinity. For that reason, the community created “scholarships.” Using those, other users lend you their Axie teams for a percentage of the earnings.
  In Binance’s case, though, they explained in a tweet. “We use the term “Scholarship” because it is how it is known in the community, only that this time the winner will be the total owner of their Axies.” In the blog post announcing the scholarships, Binance said:
  

“We are pleased to hear that our community enjoys the Play and Earn mode that games like Axie Infinity provide. In order to promote accessibility to the game in Latin America, we will raffle full scholarships, where the winners will have full access to these accounts and their production.”

The Bank Of Mexico Doesn’t Understand Bitcoin

• Alejandro Diaz de Leon, the Bank of Mexico Governor, doesn’t see bitcoin as money. He thinks “money has evolved to be fiat money issued by central banks,” which is laughable by itself, but also refuses to see how bitcoin is a much more advanced form of the same idea. One that doesn’t need central banks. Reuters quotes him saying:

“Whoever receives bitcoin in exchange for a good or service, we believe that (transaction) is more akin to bartering because that person is exchanging a good for a good, but not really money for a good.“

Brazil Wants Control Over Cryptocurrencies. Brazilians Want Bitcoin

• Mauricio Moura, Director of Relations, Citizenship, and Conduct Supervision of Brazil’s Central Bank, promised to stop anonymous digital asset transactions. Of course, when he promised the impossible, Moura was showing off at an event at the Institute of Professionals for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing. Diario Bitcoin quotes Moura saying: 

“I can’t say much. But the names of those involved in cryptocurrency transactions will be known from start to finish.”

• The Sherlock Communications agency released a report called Blockchain 2021. Among other things, it reveals that a whopping 48% of Brazilians think that their country should follow El Salvador’s example and adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. More than any other country in Latin America. From that percentage, “31% said they agree, and 17% said they fully agree with the measure.” Diario Bitcoin quotes the report:

“Brazilians were the biggest proponents of crypto-recognition in the region, with 56% supporting El Salvador’s approach and 48% saying they want Brazil to adopt it as well.“

Is Venezuela’s Petro a CBDC? What About The Digital Bolivar?

• There’s a rumor that the Venezuelan government joined the race to create the first CBDC in Latin America. However, if they’re developing a Digital Bolivar, where does that leave the Petro? Are they even the same kind of asset? Morocotacoin explores the idea and concludes that the Petro is not a CBDC because “it’s not issued by Venezuela’s Central Bank, but its issuance directly responds to a decree issued by the presidency who delegates its operation and execution to Sunacrip.” On the other hand:

“The digital bolivar is the massive digitization of Venezuelan legal tender in the national financial system.”

Learn more about the Petro through this Complete Guide.

Related Reading | Worldwide Adoption: Mexico And Argentina Flirt With Bitcoin Law

El Salvador, Latin America ‘s Belle Of The Ball

Well, bitcoin is officially legal tender in El Salvador. Obviously, that makes the country the focus of attention and Latin America ‘s current star. We at Bitcoinist have been discussing the topic non-stop, for example:

• El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly Approves Key $150M Bitcoin Trust
• El Salvador Buys 200 BTC, Vows To Buy More As Bitcoin Becomes Law
• Bitcoin Adoption In El Salvador Is The “Start Of A New World,” deVere CEO
• Could It Be Too Early For El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law? Our TALKING HEADS Respond
• El Salvador’s First Day Under Bitcoin Law, First-Hand Testimony + Video

That’s it for this particular report on Latin America and cryptocurrencies. More to come.

Featured Image by Leon Overweel on Unsplash | Charts by TradingView