Paraguay's Ueno Bank Fails, Stablecoins Become a Liquidity Alternative

According to Cointelegraph, Paraguay's digital bank Ueno was taken over by the central bank on November 3, leaving nearly 3 million customers (about 60% of the country's adults) unable to access their accounts. The central bank said its solvency ratio had fallen below half the statutory minimum requirement, and investigations found suspicious lending practices as well as deficiencies in credit documentation and accounting. The incident triggered a political crisis, with thousands taking to the streets in protests; President Santiago Peña attempted to resign before impeachment proceedings and was later arrested on charges of breach of trust and abuse of office for personal gain. The local P2P crypto market immediately reflected the turmoil, with some sellers applying premiums of up to 13% on USDt; the local currency, the guarani, fell 12.3% within a week, and some residents turned to stablecoins to preserve value or maintain payments. David Eisenmann, founder of Paraguay-based crypto exchange X4T, said the takeover occurred as salaries, rent and supplier invoices came due at the beginning of the month, leaving many business owners unable to pay wages. As of November 9, the central bank said 93.1% of Ueno depositors had been repaid.

Source: TechFlow