Welcome to Latam Insights, a compendium of Latin America’s most relevant crypto and economic news during the last week. In this issue: Argentine President Javier Milei reiterates dollarization is near, Bitfarms announces a new site in Paraguay, and El Salvador approves a soy-backed token issuance.

Argentina’s Milei Talks Dollarization Again

Javier Milei, president of Argentina, has referred to the possible dollarization of the Argentine economy again. In an interview with CNN anchor Patricia Janiot, Milei stated that the dollarization process was still part of the goals of his administration, but that he had to start healing the economy due to the state in which he received the country.

Milei explained:

We bought 5 billion dollars and in Argentina, the monetary base is 7.5 billion dollars. We are very close to being able to dollarize.

Milei advertised the shutdown of the central bank and the elimination of the national fiat currency as a key part of his government during his presidential campaign. Recently, he has been pushing for reforms to diminish the size and influence of the state in several affairs, having issued an emergency executive order (currently under the scrutiny of national courts) and sending an omnibus law to Congress to this end.

Bitfarms Announces Expansion in Paraguay

Bitfarms, a Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency mining company, announced the expansion of its operations in Paraguay. The company reported having secured land near the Itaipú Dam, one of the largest hydroelectric energy reservoirs in South America and the world. The land will be hosting a 100MW new mining site to be completed later this year.

Geoff Morphy, president and CEO of Bitfarms, stated:

Positioned to benefit from the region’s abundant renewable energy resources, this new facility should be sustainable both economically and environmentally.

Furthermore, Morphy added that with this new facility, 85% of the portfolio of the company’s operations will be powered by “low-cost green energy that promotes environmentally sustainable bitcoin mining.”

El Salvador Authorizes Soy-Backed Token Issuance

The National Digital Assets Commission of El Salvador authorized the issuance of ESOY, a token backed by soybeans, being the country’s first private tokenized asset issuance. 7.6 million tokens that will be available for 60 months were issued, with each ESOY token being backed by a bushel of soy grains, according to the site of E-grains, the company behind this issuance.

The commission stated that this “opens the doors to private issuances after the historic milestone of the Volcano Bond, the first issuance approved on December 11, 2023.” $100 million of these instruments were issued on January 18.

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