Paraguay Bank Collapse Shows Why Bitcoin Was Created as USDT Hits Premium

On November 3, Paraguay’s central bank placed Ueno Bank into resolution, a process for handling a failing bank, after regulators determined its solvency ratio, a measure of financial cushion, was less than half the required minimum. Ueno, a digital lender launched in 2021, claimed 3 million customers and managed about $850 million in public funds; customer account access was temporarily restricted. After the intervention, sellers reportedly sought premiums as high as 13% for Tether’s dollar-denominated USDT, and a review of 80 Binance P2P advertisements found a median 3.4% premium over exchange-house dollar prices. President Santiago Peña announced his resignation on November 5 amid pressure, while prosecutors were investigating him and authorities issued arrest warrants for eight bank executives.