The peak of interest in Bitcoin occurred in January and May when its price moved strongly. Several news reports involving adoption and regulation appeared in Colombia during the year.

As the end of 2021 approaches, it is possible to find reports and analyses of what happened in the past 12 months. In Colombia, Bitcoin (BTC) was one of the ten most searched subjects, besides the COVID-19 pandemic and contemporary social issues, on the Internet.

The cryptocurrency that Satoshi Nakamoto devised in 2009 occupies 10^th place in the ranking created by the Yahoo search engine. The top 5 topics were the COVID-19 vaccine, solidarity income, National Police of Colombia, 2021 minimum wage, and coronavirus.

News about Bitcoin in Colombia Appearing on the Internet in 2021

Beyond the data itself, it is relevant to know why Colombians showed interest in Bitcoin during the year. Of course, that may have been due to internal and global events.

Maybe the most important was the all-time high that the cryptocurrency hit on November 10^th. The price of BTC reached USD 69,044 that day, according to CoinGecko.

Some events occurring in Colombia also contributed to the popularization of Bitcoin. For example, several had to do with the regulatory sandbox conducted in the South American country.

That involves the connection between banks and cryptocurrency exchanges to regulate the trading of Bitcoin in Colombia. In that way, several financial institutions create a method to provide their customers with exposure to cryptocurrencies.

Other news stated that some businesses adopted Bitcoin as a payment method for their products and services. For example, people can now buy at Mercado Libre and Walmart, among other stores in the country, with cryptocurrencies.

However, negative things also happened around Bitcoin in Colombia during the year. In September, cryptocurrency exchange Binance blocked the funds of some of its customers at the request of Dutch and American police authorities. That raised doubts and fears among users about the possibility of losing their holdings, which usually represented the savings of many years.

Other Details about the Searches for Bitcoin in Colombia

It is possible to analyze the statistics offered by the Yahoo search engine and compare them with other sources. Google Trends reveals that Colombia has been one of the countries most interested in Bitcoin in Spanish America.

Their chart indicates that there have been more searches for the Bitcoin subject in Colombia than in Mexico and Paraguay. However, those queries were less numerous than in Argentina and Venezuela, which are the epicenter of cryptocurrency adoption in the region.

Besides, the interest in Bitcoin increased in January and May, when its price practically grew twofold. At that time, the price dropped from around USD 57,750 in late April to nearly USD 31,676 at the end of May.

Celebrities and their news about blockchain, Bitcoin, and altcoins also influenced the price of the pioneering cryptocurrency. Another ranking indicates that James Rodríguez, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Shakira were among the most searched celebrities of 2021. They all launched their non-fungible tokens (NFT) or, like Rodríguez, were related to cryptocurrency exchanges through sponsorship contracts.

By Alexander Salazar

Interest in the subject has grown among financial institutions like Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley. The decentralization of networks like Bitcoin is crucial for advancing a new Internet era.

The development of the metaverse has caught the attention of the leading financial institutions worldwide. They consider those digital worlds crucial for cryptocurrencies to find their place in society.

Rod Hall, a manager of Goldman Sachs, expressed interest from the bank in the metaverse and its development. They explained that they see blockchain as the essential technology to develop the metaverse and the web3.

The bank believes that blockchain technology is relevant since it allows the unique identification of each virtual object without a central authority. According to the analyst, that is crucial for tracking ownership of assets in the metaverse.

Hall also said that it is hard to predict the possibilities to invest in this context. However, he noted that companies depending on centralized user identity control might find a new business model through blockchain.

Bank of America is also in favor of what the metaverse can offer the world of finance and society. Its director of research, Haim Israel, stated cryptocurrencies could find an opportunity to become massive in that virtual world.

The executive explained that they work as a payment method in the metaverse for the multiple investment possibilities existing there. Besides lower payments for services, the use of cryptocurrencies includes further considerable expenses like the acquisition of land and cars, among other luxuries.

The Metaverse Has the Potential to Change Lives

Similar to Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, New York-based financial services company Jefferies recently expressed its opinion. The director of equity strategy of that company, Simon Powell, said that the metaverse will be the most dramatic alteration of life ever seen.

Powell commented that a single metaverse might be over a decade away, but its potential evolves to change human life. Along that path, the steps include hardware development, the software, and the companies involved.

Morgan Stanley, another leading bank, has also expressed interest in the metaverse, calling it the next great subject of investment. Meanwhile, it is possible to perceive increasingly large outlays to have a place in that fast-growing world.

There is a Connection between the Metaverse and the Web3

The term metaverse refers to a virtual world created from three-dimensional images and augmented reality, allowing new interactions between its inhabitants.

While there are decentralized metaverses like Decentraland, there are also centralized ones like Meta, which Facebook recently announced. That has led to massive worldwide interest in those virtual worlds and their development possibilities.

There is a connection between the web3 and metaverses as the latter occurs within the former. That constitutes a new stage in the Internet age, with features never seen before, like the use of new databases, artificial intelligence, and three-dimensional spaces.

It is important to note that the technology behind Bitcoin is crucial for the development of the web3. Decentralization is essential for more autonomous and interactive Internet access, distributed in various storage points.

By Alexander Salazar

Miners have already extracted 90% of the coins that the Bitcoin network will issue. The pioneering cryptocurrency regains its processing power to levels before the bans in China.

The Bitcoin mining industry responds to incentives from the electric power market, regulatory facilities, different business models, and rewards from the network. For that reason, nobody should necessarily interpret a decrease in hash rate as a negative symptom.

In addition, the mining difficulty is a mechanism that Bitcoin uses to prevent miners from acquiring too much or too little power. The latter would not allow the network to sustain the confirmation of transactions to add.

For twenty weeks, Bitcoin miners have found various ways to sustain their operations and project themselves and their results in the long term.

The Hash Rate Hit All-Time Highs after the Bans in China

Since early December, Bitcoin and its mining have reached two extremely relevant milestones. First, the hash rate reached its all-time highs for the first time after the bans in China occurring earlier this year. Besides, miners have already extracted 90% of all the coins that the network will issue

In that regard, the mining difficulty fell slightly in the adjustment of November 28^th. However, it increased by more than 8% on December 11^th.

Nine out of ten adjustments have been positive since July, and the current difficulty of 24 T is one of the highest this year. That of May 13^th (of 25 T) is the only one that has exceeded it.

The last difficulty adjustment of 2021 will occur on December 24^th or 25^th. It is still uncertain whether that correction will exceed the current difficulty rate. That would allow Bitcoin to close the year with the highest difficulty rate in all its history.

Attacks by Politicians Do Not Prevent the Industry from Growing

The Bitcoin mining industry continues to grow despite the attacks by prominent politicians. For example, US Senator Elizabeth Warren has criticized the dioxide-carbon (CO2) footprint that this activity leaves.

A new company sells new and used mining machines, especially to small businesses. It plans to deliver 40,000 devices by 2022 among customers in the United States, Canada, and Norway.

In South America, another company offers various services on data analysis to Bitcoin miners. Besides, it is hiring Spanish American developers, software engineers, technical analysts, electrical technicians, and team coordinators.

The Position of Mining Pools has Not Changed Much This Year

The position of mining pools based on the processing quota they have contributed to the network has not changed much. The exception would be the positioning of F2Pool in the first position since it previously occupied the fourth position.

Similarly, unknown pools continue to have a significant share of the Bitcoin network. These pools could consist of underground miners or independent and new pools for explorers to recognize.

The Bitcoin mining business has become increasingly relevant worldwide after the Chinese government banned it. In less than a year, the level of hash rate reached record levels outside the Asian country, especially in the United States.

By Alexander Salazar

A co-founder of exchange 1inch believes that many still do not understand the relevance of DeFi. A French bank executive thinks there must be more regulations on decentralized cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

Sergej Kunz recently said that the ecosystem of cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance (DeFi) is like the Internet in its early days. The co-founder of decentralized exchange 1inch explained that few people expected the Internet to be as helpful as today.

The developer thinks that the same happens with DeFi and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). He hopes to see the former grow as an alternative system and a part of the primary financial system.

Laurent Marochini, director of the financial company Société Générale, expressed that he is open to decentralized finance. He stated that he does not see it as a competition but as an evolution in the economic system. He estimated that using some DeFi products like stablecoins would be frequent in the traditional system within ten years.

The Representative of the Banking Sector Calls for Regulations on DeFi

Marochini believes that DeFi lacks more regulation for its massive adoption in the financial system. He mentioned that he had a problem with his credit card due to a hack some years ago. At that moment, the bank could solve the problem and reverse the illicit transactions that had occurred.

Although the executive thinks it should be possible to do the same with DeFi, he knows cryptocurrency transactions are irreversible. For that reason, he considers the closest thing would be a system that allows identifying the identities and addresses of its participants.

However, some decentralized finance platforms already implement registration processes and comply with KYC (know your customer) policies for institutional investors to accept them.

Many cryptocurrency users criticize that situation and agree that those platforms are no longer decentralized. People often associate Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, as well as DeFi, with financial freedom and privacy. For that reason, they usually find providing personal data to a platform to be something not desirable.

Despite that, there are constant advancements in regulatory attempts on the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Ironically, that regulated environment allows traditional finance to add Bitcoin-related products to its portfolio.

A Growing Number of Banks Look to Bitcoin as an Option

Many banks in various parts of the world add custody services for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether. They also allow purchasing and selling those assets to meet the demand from their customers.

Those financial institutions include the Bank of New York Mellon, the oldest in the United States, which offers BTC custody services. French bank CACEIS is also preparing to provide the safeguard of cryptocurrencies.

The customers of those financial entities are usually large institutional investors, who prefer to cede custody of their BTC to third parties. They seem not to like having to assume the responsibility of storing their holdings in self-custodial wallets.

The relevance of cryptocurrencies in the world economy is growing, but many people still need to know their potential. Traditional financial institutions are also becoming increasingly interested in including them in their portfolios, for which they request data about their customers.

By Alexander Salazar

To achieve healthy commercial activities, the regulations establish the obligation to apply for registration. As for mining, legislation got passed on energy use and possible incentives for the industry.

The Senate of Paraguay approved this Thursday, a bill presented by three senators intending to regulate activities related to cryptocurrencies in the country. Specifically, the production and marketing activities of digital assets get highlighted in the text of the regulations.

The initiative, approved by the plenary session with some modifications compared to its original version, was presented by Senator Fernando Silva Facetti (of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party) in parallel collaboration with Antonio April (Hagamos) and Juan Bartolomé Ramírez (also of the PLRA). The voting ended with twenty-nine votes in favor, eight against, six abstentions, and two absences.

The purpose is to grant legal, financial, and fiscal security for businesses linked with crypto assets. As a result of this new law, which must still be approved in the Chamber of Deputies and then regulated by the Executive Power, companies that trade cryptocurrencies in the country must get included in the Registry of virtual asset providers.

Regarding this activity, they highlighted that crypto assets are just products for free sale by those natural and legal persons who desire to market them under this law.

Concerning cryptocurrency mining, the original project defines and includes it as an “innovative digital industry” plausible to receive the incentives granted by the national government for such purposes. Likewise, possible sanctions would get established for those who carry out this activity without being duly registered with the regulatory bodies.

In this case, the responsible one is the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. Other control entities would be the National Electricity Administration and the National Secretariat for Laundering of Goods and Assets prevention.

Despite the bill in the Senate, Paraguayan media emphasized that the regulators have not yet given the green light to boost the initiative.

Paraguay and its Fertile Context for Cryptocurrencies

Paraguay’s cheap and abundant sources of energy make cryptocurrency mining a profitable activity in the nation. For this reason, many foreign companies migrate to the country to evaluate their possibilities there, as many attendees of the Crypto Summit del Sur 2021, held on December 7 in Ciudad del Este.

However, this status has also put the magnifying glass on the Paraguayan State and its stance on cryptocurrencies, their profitability, and their possible undeclared commercial use. In the legislative framework, the first to speak was Deputy Carlos Rejala. The revelation happened in June 2021, in euphoria over El Salvador’s announcement of adopting bitcoin as legal currency in its territory.

However, Rejala’s project got highly criticized; the critics even said it was a copy of projects from other countries and did not contribute anything to this industry in Paraguay. Finally, almost with the Christmas toast approaching, the Senate discussed another regulation that might have the potential to keep on its way in 2022 and become the first law on cryptocurrencies to rule in that country.

By: Jenson Nuñez

According to Milei, there are three ways to finance a budget with a fiscal deficit, and all of them are immoral and unethical. The deputy gave highlights of support for bitcoin in his presentations in Congress.

The thoughts of Milton Friedman, one of the most important referents of economic liberalism, resounded yesterday in the Argentine Congress. “Inflation is always a monetary phenomenon!” deputy Javier Milei stated in his first speech after taking office.

During the discussion on the 2022 Budget, the representative explained why his political space rejects the financial plan presented by Kirchnerism.

A lot of epithets were used by Milei to describe the budget in question: “unfeasible”, “not achievable”, “inconsistent”, “a disaster”, “a scandal”, “obsolete” and, mainly, “immoral”.

For the representative, all the ways of financing a budget with a fiscal deficit are immoral. As he explained during his speech, there are three possible ways to do it, and none of them will be ethical and moral.

First, the asset could get financed with debt, but that strategy would punish future generations. Some generations were not born, people who did not even vote, and a decision like this one, would change the party with future taxes.

As a second option, a budget with a fiscal deficit could receive backup from monetary issuance. This situation would be unsustainable due to the inflation it would cause. When that situation takes effect, not only is the operation of the economic system affected, but it hits the most vulnerable citizens between 25 and 30 times harder, said the deputy.

As the third option to finance a budget with these features, Milei mentioned the tax increase. As he has said before: In his opinion, taxes are theft, so he speaks out against their application.

The official stated that the only thing his party is going to accept is budgets that are balanced. The media economist, who in his campaign criticized with strength what he calls the political caste, argues that it is the state sector and not the private sector, which must limit its expenditures to avoid deficits.

Bitcoin is the Non-State Antidote to the Phenomenon of Inflation

In this actual economic context, many are those citizens and businesses who see bitcoin (BTC) as an antidote that can protect the individual from the monetary phenomenon named inflation. The cryptocurrency that got created by Satoshi Nakamoto, unlike the money imposed by the States, has an immovable monetary policy that gets defined from its origins.

There will never be more than the 21 million BTC currently existing. In addition, the emission rate is constant except for halvings. This situation happens every four years and involves halving the number of coins that are issued every approximately 10 minutes.

The volatility of bitcoin can indeed make it difficult for some to consider it a good store of value in the face of inflation. But, if you look at the price chart, a trend appears to be upward since its birth.

By: Jenson Nuñez