Two promoters of a major cryptocurrency exit scam, OneCoin, have been found dead in Mazatlan, Mexico. Oscar Brito Ibarra and Ignacio Ibarra, two major OneCoin promoters, were apparently kidnapped and killed in Mexico, Cointelegraph en Español reported on Tuesday. According to the report, the two men were promoting OneCoin as a payment method for a local car firm, the Latin American Automotive Marketing Company. The terrifying news was first reported by major Latin American publication, La Tercera, on Saturday. According to the report, the bodies of Brito and Ibarra were found stuffed into suitcases and dumped in a vacant lot. …

Retail and enterprise blockchain adoption trends dominated the discussions on days three and four of the ongoing virtual conference Unitize, organized by BlockShow and San Francisco Blockchain Week and sponsored by crypto derivatives exchange ByBit. The key topic that dominated discussion was blockchain adoption, which continues to spread across the globe, with governments and corporate establishments developing solutions based on distributed ledger technology. Exploring the blockchain development landscape Speaking during one of Wednesday’s panels at the conference. Yi Ming Ng, a member of the Tribe Accelerator project in Singapore, and Marloes Pomp, a blockchain consultant with the Dutch government, shed …

Bitso, one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in Latin America, has hit 1 million users prior to its upcoming launch in Brazil. Santiago Alvarado, director of cross-border payments at Bitso, discussed the latest developments in leveraging crypto for cross-border payments in Latin America during a Unitize panel on July 8. The discussion was joined by Ripple’s director of product Craig DeWitt and Prysm Group’s Reed Cataldo. Bitso tops Argentinian market after launching in February During the panel, Alvarado revealed that Bitso reached a major milestone by hitting a one million user market last week. After topping Mexican and Argentinian crypto …

Blockchain could bring technological revolution in Latin America said Mario Blacutt, NULS core developer and Nerve Network founder, in an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph. Blacutt revealed his thoughts on the region’s blockchain environment and the hurdles he faced after former Bolivian President Evo Morales banned cryptocurrencies in 2014. Blacutt, who recently revealed his real name to the public after having hidden under the pseudonym “Berzeck” for several years,” said blockchain technology will “undoubtedly” spark another decade of a technological revolution in Latin America. Crypto adoption in Latin America “will likely accelerate” He said the sooner governments realize crypto’s benefits, the …

OKEx, a major global cryptocurrency exchange, is embracing the Latin American crypto market by launching a fiat gateway for three local currencies. According to a July 3 announcement, OKEx users can now buy Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) in exchange for the Argentine peso (ARS), the Brazilian real (BRL), and the Mexican peso (MXN) via a direct bank transfer. OKEx implements Settle Network’s Latamex tool OKEx’s partnership with a company called Settle Network allowed them to enable these features. Settle Network is claimed to be the largest digital settlement network in Latin America. The new service is provided through Latamex, …

On Thursday, Uphold announced that they will allow users in Latin America to use cryptocurrency to acquire fractional ownership of the world’s leading companies. Uphold supports dozens of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC). In theory, its users could acquire a stake in Amazon, Apple, Google or Tesla for as little as 10,000 Satoshis. Making U.S. equities affordable to Latin America According to the company’s press release, the new service makes equity investments affordable for millions of people in the region: “Uphold, the leading digital money platform, today launches a groundbreaking equities service that gives millions of people in Latin America easy …

Despite once ranking as the fourth-most popular app in Venezuela, pioneering crypto wallet provider BRD, formerly BreadWallet, attributes its success in the country to local demand for crypto assets. Speaking with Cointelegraph on the topic of BRD’s success in Venezuela, CEO Adam Traidman stated that local demand for crypto assets has been the principal driver of the app’s popularity in the country. “In all honesty, I would love to be able to tell you it was a result of our brilliant marketing team and great advertising strategies and all that — it was none of those things,” he said. “At …

A study unveiled on May 28 by the National Police of Colombia shows that ransomware attacks are a rising trend across the country. The report notes that 30% of all ransomware attacks within Latin American have specifically targeted Colombia. The report, made in alliance with Cisco, McAfee, Microsoft, Absolute, Fortinet, and Claro, states that the threat of ransomware in Colombia is “underestimated.” The quantity of Colombian attacks are followed by Peru (16%), Mexico (14%), Brazil (11%), and Argentina (9%), with SMEs being the preferred targets of cybercriminals. The study shows that 83% of companies in the country lack response protocols …

Amid declining global volume, Localbitcoins.com continues to comprise a hub for Latin American peer-to-peer (P2P) trade — with Argentina, Chile, and Venezuela posting record volume over recent weeks according to Coin.dance. This past week saw Localbitcoins trade between Bitcoin (BTC) and the Mexican peso spike by 71%. As such, the week of April 25 saw roughly $430,000 worth of BTC change hands in Mexico — comprising the fourth-strongest weekly trade activity on record. Latin markets post record volumes during April Argentinian P2P trade rallied to post a new record of more than $710,000 in weekly volume during the week of …

Colombian-based cross-border remittance start-up Valiu has launched Bitcoin-backed synthetic U.S. dollars as a means for Venezuelans to access stable assets and bypass the hyperinflation plaguing their national economy. It’s still in Alpha, but Valiu has partnered with Latin America food delivery app Rappi, which could offer a large user base to help with adoption when it’s rolled out in full later this year. Synthetic USD On April 23, Valiu chief executive Simon Chamorro tweeted that the firm’s ‘cryptodollar’ has launched in alpha: “After 4 months of 80+ hour work weeks, 500k+ lines of clean code written across 4 engineers, shifting …

Slovakian cybersecurity firm ESET has reported some success in disrupting the workings of a previously undetected Monero (XMR)-mining botnet in Latin America. In an announcement on April 23, ESET said the malware had infected over 35,000 computers since May 2019, with 90% of compromised devices located in Peru. Researchers have had some success in tackling the threat ESET researchers have dubbed the botnet VictoryGate, noting that its main activity has been illicit Monero mining — also known as cryptojacking. This is the industry term for stealth crypto-mining attacks that work by installing malware that uses a computer’s processing power to …

The Inter-American Development Bank has launched a competition that invites projects to propose blockchain-based solutions for preventing violence against women, children and the elderly. Companies, entrepreneurs, startups and NGOs are all invited to submit their ideas. The challenge, called "Blockchangel," was proposed in a joint alliance between the LACChain group's innovation laboratory and the Everis Foundation. Incorporating a blockchain is a requirement of the competition, and proposals must be applicable anywhere in Latin America and the Caribbean. According to the rules of the challenge, the following criteria must be met to maintain eligibility: Prevention level ("no more vulnerability"): Solutions are …