Latam Insights: Paraguay’s Bitcoin Legal Tender Hack, Brazil’s Crypto Tax Update

Welcome to Latam Insights, a compilation of the most relevant crypto news from Latin America over the past week. In this week’s edition, Paraguay’s President Santiago Peña gets hacked, Brazil updates its crypto taxation regime, and crypto remittances fell 45% in El Salvador.

No One Fell for It: Paraguay’s Bitcoin Legal Tender Announcement Was a Zero-Sum Hack

Paraguay became the center of the crypto world on Monday, when President Santiago Peña took to social media to make an announcement that shook -and confused- the community. In a now-deleted post, Peña stated that the country had enacted bitcoin as legal tender and established a bitcoin reserve of $5 million.

In the post, Peña allegedly declared that he had signed a law making bitcoin legal tender “rooted in an unbreakable compromise with the financial innovation, economic sovereignty, and inclusive growth.”

In a strange tone, a statement also referred to a series of bonds that would be issued by the Paraguayan Treasury, inviting investors to secure their stake by sending funds to a bitcoin address.

Read more.

Brazilian Authorities Terminate Exemptions, Aims to Tax Crypto Held in Self Custody

The Brazilian government has announced new tax rules for cryptocurrencies held both in the country and abroad. A Provisional Measure published on June 11 derogates the previous tax regime that established a lower floor for paying taxes linked to digital assets, and establishes a flat fee for all income derived from holding or trading these assets.

Provisional Measure 1,303 establishes that these gains will pay a flat fee of 17.5% as income tax, without exception. Before, crypto income was taxed only if the amount exceeded 35,000 reais (nearly $6,320) and was lower than 5 million reais (nearly $900,000) at 15%, 17.5% for volumes between 5 million reais and 10 million reais ($1,800,000); 20% for the range between 10 million and 20 million reais ($3,600,000); and 22% for volumes above 30 million reais ($5,400,000).

The measure points out that “all income, including net gains, obtained from transactions with virtual assets, including financial arrangements with virtual assets that are the digital representation of value negotiated or transferred by electronic means and used for payment or investment purposes” are included in this new regime.

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Crypto Remittances Fell Nearly 45% in El Salvador

Numbers from the central bank found out that, even with the advantages that it might offer, crypto has had a hard time breaking into the current remittance structure in El Salvador.

The volume of remittances processed through crypto means fell by 44.5% during Q1 2025 compared to what was sent to the country in the first four months of 2024. Salvadorans only received $16 million in crypto during this period, a sharp decline from the $28.83 million during the same period last year.

The reduction in crypto remittances volumes has become a trend, failing to gain momentum as financial institutions, incumbents in the business, still have the preference of the Salvadorans despite the fees associated with their activities.

Read more.

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