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Cryptocurrency News

Brazilian banks relent on anti-crypto actions following court decision

According to Brazilian news outlet Portal do Bitcoin, two retail banks in the country have stepped back from the abyss and reopened the accounts of local cryptocurrency exchange, Bitcoin Max.   The country’s Federal District Court has made a preliminary judgement requiring both banks – Banco do Brasil and Santander Brasil – to reopen the accounts. The court gave notice that

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South America

Latin America could be “closing its veins” with a digital tax

Mexico and Chile are among a host of countries that may follow the European Union’s lead in playing hardball on taxes with big tech companies like Facebook, Alphabet, AirBnB, and Uber. In March, the EU proposed a “digital tax” that would affect the revenue of major digital companies like Facebook and Google. Inc, but the

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Non Starters

StreetBa: The startup cleaning the city of Lima with automated vacuums

We’ve all seen them before — the circular, automated vacuums that bounce around homes cleaning carpets and entertaining cats. Rumbas were seen as futuristic back in the 70s, but as time progressed, we slowly saw them being purchased by cool friends, and people who considered themselves ahead of their time. Yet they stopped there. People

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Brazil Mexico Startups

Amidst controversy, Bird electric scooters break into Latin America

Electric scooter startup Bird has announced its expansion to the continent of Latin America. Launched in the US in 2017, the company has raised a total of US $415M in funding over five rounds and, in September 2018, reached its 10 millionth ride. With scooters already available across the US and in several European cities,

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Brazil Startups

Could Bolsonaro’s victory inadvertently benefit the startup environment across Latin America?

Bolsonaro’s recent victory in the 2018 Brazil election is still on everyone’s mind. It has created an environment of uncertainty for companies of all sizes across the country, and while the country’s elite and companies like Banco de Santander have benefited from the buzz around the controversial elections, others are a bit skeptical of what

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Colombia Fintech Startups

Quickfire profiles: Agrapp’s plans to support small farmers amidst potential IVA increases for basic produce in Colombia

In this series we look to the graduates of Founder Institute’s Bogotá program. Among the many accelerator programs in Colombia, Founder Institute Bogotá was originally brought to the country by Alan Colmenares in 2009. The program is back after a five year hiatus, under a new director Mads Schmidt Peterson. As recent news rolls in

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Headline Startups

Latin America left, right and center at Unbound Miami Innovation Festival

In Miami, Spanish and English overlap. It’s the city where you can start off speaking English and then end with one of the various Venezuelan, Puerto Rican, Cuban or Colombian accents that call Miami home. So it’s of little surprise that Unbound’s latest innovation festival in Florida’s most iconic city would have Latin America running

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Uncategorized

Venezuela aids exchange of Petro for fiat and crypto

Venezuela continue to progress with their plan towards greater integration of the World’s first state backed cryptocurrency – the Petro.  As per an announcement made on Twitter earlier this week originating from the Venezuelan Economy Department, the digital currency is now listed on 6 cryptocurrency exchanges. Included in the tweet is an infographic which clarifies the process

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Peru Startups

Reach is crowdsourcing street criminal incidents to reduce crime in Lima

Unfortunately, in Latin America and many other places around the world, robberies are a part of urban life. Moisés Salazar of Lima has been a victim of petty crime in the streets, which is what led him to create Reach. The application that markets itself as a kind of Waze for street crime alerts users through a

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Puerto Rico Startups

Parallel 18 startup Abartys Health on being the technology layer between provider and patient

Abartys Health was a part of Parallel 18’s class of 2016 in Puerto Rico and is now carving out a space in the American health insurance market. Lauren Cascio spoke to LATAM.tech about the startup’s goals of stemming losses within the system. “Giving patients access to their own healthcare is what we want to do.”

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