Mexico

Mexico’s digital peso delayed, launch date unclear

Mexico’s central bank is working on legal, administrative and technological requirements for the peso’s digital version.

More than a year after it was announced, Mexico’s proposed central bank digital currency (CBDC) is still in the initial phase and unlikely to meet its 2024 launch date.

According to local media reports, Mexico’s central bank, known as Banxico, is working on legal, administrative and technological requirements for the peso’s digital version.

In December 2021, the local government announced its plan to introduce a national digital currency, noting in a tweet that the “new technologies and next-generation payment infrastructure” would improve Mexico’s financial inclusion. While that tweet mentioned a launch in 2024, a year later, authorities are avoiding predicting a launch date.

“The result of this initial phase entails the preparation of a budget that is currently being determined, and will in turn allow establishing a probable date on which the MDBC [CDBC] will be available,” the central bank said.

The original plan included in its first stage the creation of the PagoCel platform, allowing users to make bank transfers using their mobile numbers or personal information. A second phase would involve the country’s financial institutions, which will issue a security code for digital currencies to be transferred through the Interbank Electronic Payment System (SPEI), a transfer system owned and operated by the central bank.

A final stage of the project would allow participants without bank accounts to use the digital currency, promoting their financial inclusion.

Mexico’s interest in cryptocurrency picked up momentum in 2021, when 40% of the firms in the country were interested in adopting blockchain and cryptocurrency, according to Triple A’s crypto ownership data.

Increasing interest in Bitcoin in Mexico has led to the installation of a Bitcoin ATM in its Senate building, with the support of several legislators and crypto enthusiasts, Cointelegraph reported. Mexico is the second-largest recipient of remittances in the world, with transfers reaching a record $5.3 billion between July 2021 and July 2022, according to statistics from the World Bank.

Web3 projects focus on education to bring Latin American women to the sector

Women in Latin America are showing an increased interest in Web3 as organizations aim to drive participation through educational content and scholarships.

Interest in Web3 continues to grow despite the crypto bear market. A recent article from McKinsey noted that venture capital investments in Web3 exceeded $18 billion during the first half of 2022. Findings from Cointelegraph Research also show that Web3 attracted the most interest from venture capitalists in comparison to other blockchain sectors during Q2 of this year.

While notable, a lack of diversity has become apparent within the Web3 sector. For instance, it was found that only 16% of nonfungible token (NFT) creators are women. Although this number is low, women are taking an interest in owning digital assets. Given this, industry experts believe that a lack of education around Web3 is creating a barrier to entry for women, especially for those who are from underrepresented regions, such as those from Latin America.

Initiatives to bring Latin American women to Web3

Sandy Carter, senior vice president and channel chief of Unstoppable Domains — an NFT domain name provider and digital identity platform — told Cointelegraph that she has seen increased demand for Web3 content from women living in Brazil, Columbia and several additional Spanish-speaking countries, including Spain.

“On March 8, 2022, Unstoppable Domains launched ‘Unstoppable Women of Web3,’ which is a diversity and education group focusing on training talent to equalize the playing field in Web3. Following this, a number of Latinas reached out requesting Web3 content in various languages,” she said.

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In order to cater to these requests, Carter explained that Unstoppable Domains recently initiated a goal to onboard 5 million Latin American women into Web3 by 2030. Carter added that this initiative is being launched in partnership with H.E.R. DAO LATAM — a women-led developer decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) championing diversity — along with the Spanish-language crypto education platform CryptoConexión. She said:

“Education is the first step to building a more inclusive Web3. We have partnered with women from 25 different groups to help create educational materials around Web3 in Spanish. We are also distributing over $25 million worth of free NFT domains to five million Latinas to help them build and control their digital identity as a gateway into the sector.”

According to Carter, initiatives like these are becoming more important, as she pointed out that women who live in or trace their ancestry to Latin America continue to be underrepresented in the tech industry. To put this in perspective, data from the online tech community Built In found that only 2% of computing-related jobs in the United States are held by women of Latin American descent. The same applies in Latin America itself, where women are significantly underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and math fields, according to research from IDB.

Monica Talan, founder of CryptoConexión, told Cointelegraph that organizations must take an education-first approach that incorporates different languages to bridge the Web3 diversity gap, stating, “CryptoConexión has an initiative called ‘WAGMI LatAm,’ where our mission is to ensure access to Web3 content in English, Spanish and Portuguese.”

Additionally, Laura Navarro Muñoz, governor of H.E.R. DAO LATAM, told Cointelegraph that the organization is helping women in Latin America transition to Web3 by providing travel scholarships to events and hackathons.

*Women participating at the Devcon Bogota hackathon. Source: H.E.R. DAO LATAM*

Groups like H.E.R. DAO LATAM and CryptoConexión have already started making an impact. Bricia Gabriela Guzmán Chávez, community manager at Web3Equity — a Web3 platform promoting gender equality — told Cointelegraph that she got her first job in the sector after obtaining a scholarship from H.E.R. DAO LATAM to attend a cryptocurrency event:

“I heard a speaker say, ‘If we want to have more inclusion, we have to do it.’ That day, I joined the H.E.R. DAO Global Telegram where someone shared a position for ‘Discord moderator.’ I applied, and my life changed. Yet, at that moment, I didn’t have the hard skills that I have right now, so I’m grateful that they gave me their vote of confidence.”

According to Guzmán Chávez, H.E.R. DAO LATAM also created a scholarship program following ETH Mexico called “Hacker Mom Scholar.” Through this, she was able to attend Devcon VI with her three children. “Currently, I’m working full-time remotely on Web3 projects, and each chance that these projects provide me to attend Web3 events is an opportunity to improve the quality of my life,” Guzmán Chávez mentioned.

Talan further remarked that it’s important for Latin American women to get involved in Web3 due to the demand the sector is witnessing in the region, especially in places like Mexico.

“Mexico is seeing more people use crypto for remittances,” she said. According to World Bank statistics, Mexico was the second-largest recipient of remittances in the world last year. Given this, a number of Web3 companies are setting up shop in Mexico to enable crypto remittances. “We need information available about how crypto remittances can be used. I believe this can be better achieved if we have more women building these products,” Talan said.

Challenges for Latin American women seeking jobs in Web3

While it’s notable that organizations are focused on bringing women from Latin America to the Web3 sector, challenges such as hiring freezes and access to technology may hamper adoption. For instance, data from Crypto Jobs List noted that the number of job listings and talent interested in the space has declined about 30%–40% in comparison to the last bull market in February 2022.

On the flip side, Web3 is enabling more remote job opportunities, which may help drive a diverse workforce. “Web3 is helping people get high-paying jobs regardless of their location. All they need are the skills, which is why we are focused on education first,” Navarro Muñoz pointed out.

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Diana Carolyn Olvera Gómez, a Web3 researcher, told Cointelegraph that H.E.R. DAO LATAM gave her the opportunity to participate in her first hackathon. The organization also presented her with educational content in Spanish. In turn, Olvera Gómez shared that she remotely serves as a contributor to Web3Montréal, a Canadian nonprofit focused on Web3, and to Coinmiles, a Bitcoin (BTC) rewards platform.

However, Olvera Gómez mentioned that access to technology, such as Web3 initiatives, can be complicated for many women living in regions like Latin America. Yet she believes that a ripple effect will drive women’s involvement as more get involved.

“Web3 communities dedicated to women provide an opportunity to bridge the gender gap in the workplace.” Carter added that demand from women wanting to participate within Web3 is there, yet supplying the correct educational content is the next challenge:

“We are in a bear market, but this is the time for building. Energy and enthusiasm around the space haven’t waned. We just need to figure out how to supply education to those interested in learning more.”

Remittances drive ‘uneven, but swift’ crypto adoption in Latin America

The Latin American region now makes up for a 9.1% share of the global crypto value received in 2022 with remittances and high inflation the highest drivers of adoption.

Remittance payments, fiat fears and profit-chasing have been the three most significant drivers of crypto adoption in Latin America, according to a new report.

The seventh-largest crypto market in the world saw the value of cryptocurrencies received by individuals rocket 40% between July 2021 to June 2022, reaching $562 billion, according to an Oct. 20 report from Chainalysis.

Part of the surge was attributed to remittances, with the region’s overall remittance market estimated to have reached $150 billion in 2022. Chainalysis noted that crypto-based service adoption was “uneven, but swift.”

The firm pointed to one Mexican exchange operating in the “world’s largest crypto remittance corridor,” which processed over $1 billion in remittances between Mexico and the United States in the year to June 2022 alone.

It marked an increase of 400% year-on-year and accounted for 4% of the country’s remittance market.

However, the region’s soaring inflation rates have also played a huge part in crypto adoption, according to the analytics firm, particularly in the adoption of the United States dollar-pegged stablecoins.

“Stablecoins – cryptocurrencies that are designed to stay pegged to the price of fiat currencies like USD – are a favorite in the most inflation-ravaged countries in the region,” explained the firm.

The region has been battling with staggeringly high inflation rates, with an estimate from the International Monetary Fund revealing that inflation across the largest five Latin American countries reached a 25-year high in August to 12.1%.

This has led regular consumers, attempting to protect themselves from their plummeting national currencies, to take and hold stablecoins in order to make their everyday purchases.

The report cited a June Mastercard survey that found over a third of consumers already use stablecoins to make everyday purchases. Meanwhile, Chainalysis noted that citizens from Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil were most likely to use stablecoins for small retail transactions (under $1,000).

Venezuela in particular has seen its national fiat currency the bolívar depreciate by over 100,000% since December 2014, the firm added.

*Argentina and Brazil also saw significant shares of stablecoins used for sub $1,000 transactions. Source:* *Chainalysis*

Interestingly, the report found that citizens in the larger and more developed Latin American economies were also likely to adopt cryptocurrencies as a means of profit.

Chileans were the most involved in decentralized finance (DeFi), with over 45% of all crypto transaction volume taking place on DeFi platforms, followed by Brazil at just over 30%. Brazil was the number one country in the region for crypto value received, closing in on $150 billion.

“Latin America’s more DeFi-centric crypto markets are not unlike Western Europe’s or North America’s, where market participants are embracing cutting edge, returns-focused crypto platforms moreso than savings-centric centralized services,” Chainalysis explained.

Why crypto remittance companies are flocking to Mexico

Mexico has a burgeoning crypto remittance market that has immense potential.

Mexico is the second-largest recipient of remittances in the world, according to 2021 World Bank statistics. Remittances to the nation jumped to a record $5.3 billion in July, which is a 16.5% increase year-over-year compared to the same period last year. The steady growth presents myriad opportunities for fintech companies.

Not surprisingly, droves of crypto companies are setting up shop in Mexico to claim a share of the burgeoning remittance market.

Over the past year alone, about half a dozen crypto giants, including Coinbase, have set up operations in the country.

In February, Coinbase unveiled a crypto transfer service tailored to United States-based clients looking to send crypto remittances to Mexico. The product enabled recipients in Mexico to withdraw their money in pesos.

Other companies have since joined the foray. In August, the Malaysia-based Belfrics digital currency exchange announced plans to open crypto transfer operations in Mexico. According to the published communique, the firm will start by launching blockchain wallet and remittance service solutions.

Another notable company that is jostling for a share of the Mexican crypto remittance market is Tether. In May, the crypto company launched the MXNT stablecoin, which is pegged to the Mexican peso. According to the enterprise, the collateralized digital currency will help customers to navigate volatility and use cryptocurrencies as a store of value.

Besides the new entrants, local Mexican crypto companies such as Bitso, which is one of the largest crypto exchanges in the Latin American nation, are already making moves to enhance their reach in an increasingly competitive market.

In November 2021, the Mexican firm established an alliance with U.S.-based Circle Solutions. The collaboration allowed the agency to use Circle’s payment system to facilitate U.S.-to-Mexico crypto remittances.

Cointelegraph had the opportunity to speak with Eduardo Cruz, head of business operations and enterprise solutions at Bitso, about the factors driving the crypto remittance trend in Mexico. He cited high bank transaction costs, slow settlement times and the lack of access to banking facilities as some of the factors pushing the masses toward crypto remittances.

He also highlighted recent alliances that have helped Mexican crypto companies bring crypto remittance services closer to nationals around the world, thereby boosting their adoption.

“For example, Bitso’s clients such as Africhange, which recently integrated Canada–Mexico crypto-powered remittance services to Bitso, and Everest, which enables remittances from the United States, Europe and Singapore into Mexico, are offering a cheaper and faster way to send money to Mexico,” he said.

Factors driving the Mexican crypto remittance sector

One of the biggest factors driving the Mexican crypto remittance sector today is the huge Mexican population residing in the diaspora. Presently, the U.S. and Canada have the highest number of Mexican immigrants.

According to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2020, there are approximately 62.1 million Hispanic people residing in the U.S. today, with Mexicans comprising 61.6% of this population.

Going by 2021 numbers, money sent to Mexico from the U.S. accounted for about 94.9% of all remittances, while Mexicans residing in Canada sent $231 million in the second quarter of 2022.

In a nutshell, the rising number of Mexicans migrating to the U.S. and Canada is pushing remittances to new levels, and the high demand is spilling over to the crypto payments industry.

The decline of the Mexican peso and the emergence of a strong dollar have also contributed to the spike in remittances over the past couple of years.

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This phenomenon has occurred in previous crises, such as the 2008 financial crisis, which plunged the Mexican economy into turmoil. In times like this, Mexican institutions and investors usually tend to seek refuge in the greenback, which typically has a higher buying power.

In March 2020, when coronavirus lockdowns began, the U.S. dollar’s purchasing power jumped by approximately 30% in Mexico. At the same time, the average remittance transfer to Mexico increased from $315 to $343.

Today, the availability of dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies allows Mexicans living in the diaspora to leverage the heightened buying power of the USD to make investments and purchases in their home country, hence the higher remittance rates.

Greater convenience

Blockchain technology eliminates third-party mediators from transaction processes, which leads to lower transaction costs and less time used when undertaking remittance transactions.

Cointelegraph caught up with Structure.fi president and co-founder Bryan Hernandez to discuss the impact of these factors on the Mexican remittance market. His company operates a mobile trading platform that gives investors exposure to traditional and crypto financial markets:

“Crypto businesses see a huge opportunity here to streamline (conventional money transfer) processes using blockchain technology. Using crypto, cross-border payments can be made directly with little or no fees instantaneously.”

In Mexico, many financial institutions are also located far away from rural areas, and this makes it hard for the locals to access financial services. Crypto remittance solutions are beginning to close this gap by enabling citizens in such areas to access their money without having to travel long distances.

Moreover, they are able to serve the unbanked. As things stand, over 50% of Mexicans lack a bank account. This makes crypto remittance solutions convenient for citizens in this demographic, as all that’s needed to receive funds is a crypto wallet address.

Another reason why more Mexicans are embracing the crypto remittance fad is their distrust of banks. Mexicans living in the diaspora are sometimes subjected to redlining practices, and this has led to more people using crypto remittance solutions.

Dmitry Ivanov, chief marketing officer at CoinsPaid — a crypto payments firm — told Cointelegraph that the wider use of crypto remittance networks in Mexico was bound to boost adoption overall.

“The clear advantage of digital currencies is what is paving the way for their broad-based adoption in the country and the Latin American world as a whole,” he said, adding:

“The benefits derived from digital currencies have made Mexicans see how exploitative banks have been thus far with their charges, and the general comparative inefficiency has made them distrust traditional financial institutions in general. With a little more regulatory push, the country’s remittance inflow may be dominated by cryptocurrencies.”

A few hurdles

Blockchain remittance solutions provide a raft of important benefits to Mexican users, such as fast transfers and lower transaction fees.

However, they have to overcome some fundamental challenges to dominate the cross-border payments market. The technical nature of crypto platforms, and limited local currency withdrawal options, for example, present some unique challenges that are likely to slow down adoption.

Mexican citizens also still prefer using cash to make payments. According to the 2021 McKinsey Global Payments Report, Mexico was ranked top among countries projected to have high cash usage over the next couple of years.

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The research report forecasts that consumer cash payments will account for about 81.5% of all transactions in Mexico by 2025.

This presents a major hurdle for crypto adoption in the country, despite rising crypto remittance figures.

Going forward, it will be interesting to see how the tech-savvy and crypto evangelists navigate the challenges facing adoption and take advantage of the momentum provided by the growing remittances industry.

Latin America is ready for crypto — just integrate it with their payment systems

Brazil is already leading the globe in cryptocurrency adoption. Integrating crypto with payment providers in the region is a surefire way to see Latin America fully embrace the industry.

Thriving on exploiting users’ data, Web2 monopolies like Facebook and Google have ushered in an era of massive internet centralization in recent years. This concentration of power has enabled huge shares of communication and commerce closed platforms, giving users little control over how their data is collected.

An emerging concept, Web3, will provide a means to pivot from centralization to an open-source internet. A recent report from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) found that this new digital economy could reach an astounding 1 billion users by 2031. If executed correctly, the decentralized internet will allow users to take control of their data and content.

While Web3 promises to radically change the internet and its ability to provide value to users worldwide, key hurdles must be overcome before it can be adopted en masse.

One major obstacle to mass adoption is the lack of local payments integration that many Web3 projects have. For example, a global Web3 project based in Germany likely doesn’t understand or offer the preferred payment options of people living in Brazil. While it seems tedious, accepting local payment options familiar to customers in their respective regions is a strategic decision that can make an enormous impact in winning market share.

Let’s look at how Web3 projects can scale in Latin America and globally by expanding local payment options.

Understanding local payment preferences

Local payment methods are regionally preferred payment types. These methods include digital wallets, cash vouchers, local debit networks, bank transfers, open invoicing and other tactics used globally to transact in-store and online. Without local payment fluency, Web3 businesses aren’t able to access different markets across the globe.

However, serving an international clientele by accepting local payments is no easy feat as each region subscribes to significantly different preferred payment options and regulatory requirements. Web3 projects often don’t have the proper infrastructure to reach global audiences at scale.

One of the hottest Latin American markets for Web3 projects is Brazil, as its citizens are adopting digital transactions faster than in any other country. Brazil has seen a massive uptake of its national instant payment solution, PIX, implemented by the Brazilian Central Bank in 2020. For Web3 companies to reach this audience, they must forge a way to connect with local banks and stay in line with local regulations.

COVID-19 accelerated digital transformation in nearly every corner of the world. In Mexico, the adoption of SPEI, a real-time gross settlements payment system created by the Bank of Mexico, is rising. Companies can capitalize on systems like SPEI by finding a way to partner with central banks or employing a third party to link to banks for them.

Additionally, the pandemic and the rise of contactless payments highlighted the importance of flexible payment options. Online payment methods are gaining significant traction in Latin America. For example, Mexican convenience store OXXO recently launched a voucher-based banking app that allows users to pay for their utility bills and online purchases that now boasts more than 1.6 million users. Keeping up-to-date with new developments in the payments landscape is vital to serving customers and keeping pace with the competition.

Establishing trust and loyalty

In many countries in Latin America, individuals are eager to embrace crypto in the hope of a better financial future. A recent study found that Latin Americans are the most bullish on crypto compared to any other region worldwide. There is a huge opportunity for the Web3 movement to establish deep trust with Latin Americans as the centralized system has failed them.

Local payments are a gateway to customer acquisition and loyalty. To effectively enter new markets, it is vital to establish quick integration with all relevant currencies. This results in new end-user conversions and higher success rates, which builds loyalty and trust with local audiences.

Enhancing user experience

It is a widely held belief that much work is needed to streamline the user experience in Web3. Regarding Web3 payments, users are looking for fast, reliable transactions in the payment method of their choice. Web3 projects can improve user experience by meeting customers where they are and speaking their language.

Ways to enhance payment user experience include simplifying the onboarding process and providing exceptional customer support. Notifying users every step of the way so that they are confident their payment is being processed will ensure there is no confusion or apprehension.

Web3 is still in its infancy and has some growing pains in its current state. But accomplishing the due diligence required to deepen infrastructure integrations worldwide will open up endless possibilities and, ultimately, transform the ways individuals socialize, transact and consume data.

Holger Arians is the CEO of Banxa, a payment and compliance infrastructure provider to the global crypto industry.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Mercado Bitcoin plans to expand to Mexico

The expansion may not necessarily include Mercado Bitcoin acquiring a Mexico-based crypto exchange to operate in the country.

Brazilian crypto exchange Mercado Bitcoin could begin operating in Mexico sometime in 2022, pending regulatory approval.

Speaking to Cointelegraph on Thursday, Mercado Bitcoin CEO Reinaldo Rabelo said the company was awaiting regulatory approval to start operations in Mexico. The details of the expansion are unclear, but Rabelo said in an April interview with Cointelegraph Brasil that acquiring a crypto exchange was an easier route to operate in a new market to avoid starting from scratch.

In January, Mercado Bitcoin’s operator 2TM Group bought a controlling stake in Lisbon-based crypto exchange CriptoLoja as part of the company’s expansion into Portugal. Coinbase was also reportedly in talks to purchase 2TM — with a valuation of more than $2 billion at the time — but ended discussions in May.

Rabelo reportedly stated 2TM was “looking at the Latin American market a bit more cautiously due to the macroeconomic scenario,” but did not suggest where or if the company might expand next. At the time of publication, 2TM operates in Brazil and Portugal through firms including Mercado Bitcoin, Blockchain Academy, Bitrust, CriptoLoja and Portal do Bitcoin.

Should Mercado Bitcoin make the move to Mexico, it would likely be in competition with crypto exchange Bitso, which currently provides services to the country as well as Argentina, Brazil, El Salvador and Colombia. Some lawmakers in Mexico have proposed adopting Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender in the country like its neighbor El Salvador did in September 2021, but there are also plans to introduce a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in 2024.