Paraguay's Ueno Bank Taken Over by Central Bank, Nearly 3 Million Customers Unable to Access Accounts

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 stated that its solvency ratio fell below half of the statutory minimum requirement, and investigations revealed suspicious loan operations and accounting deficiencies in credit documents. The incident has triggered a political crisis, with thousands taking to the streets to protest. President Santiago Peña attempted to resign before being impeached and was subsequently arrested on charges of breach of trust and abuse of power for personal gain. The local P2P crypto market reflects the turmoil, with some sellers charging a premium of up to 13% for USDt; the local currency, the guarani, has depreciated by 12.3% within a week, prompting some citizens to turn to stablecoins for value preservation or payment. David Eisenmann, founder of Paraguay's crypto exchange X4T, noted that the takeover occurred at the beginning of the month when salaries, rents, and supplier invoices were due, leaving many business owners unable to pay wages. As of November 9, the central bank reported that 93.1% of Ueno's deposit customers had been compensated.

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