In brief – Paraguayan President Santiago Peña announced his resignation after Ueno Bank’s collapse cut off nearly three million customers. – Regulators found Ueno’s capital below half the required minimum, while the bank held roughly $800 million in public deposits. – The crisis…
lustrates Bitcoin’s self-custody argument, but lost keys, theft and price volatility pose separate risks. Paraguayan President Santiago Peña announced his resignation Thursday after the collapse of digital lender Ueno Bank left roughly three million customers unable to access their accounts, turning a banking failure into a political emergency
The announcement did not end the confrontation. Paraguay’s lower house voted 78-0 to impeach Peña minutes later, sending the charges to the Senate as Vice President Pedro Alliana prepared to take over, per AP. The bank’s shutdown has also revived an argument familiar to Bitcoin holders: Money held by a financial intermediary is only as accessible as that institution allows.
Self-custodied Bitcoin works differently, although it comes with risks of its own. As the Bitcoin OGs would say, “Bitcoin fixes this.” A banking crisis with a political price Paraguay’s central bank placed Ueno into resolution after regulators found its solvency ratio had fallen below half the legal minimum. The process, announced on November 3, followed accounting adjustments to the bank’s financial statements and left its app, cards, and transfers out of service.