Paraguay Protests Over Bank Lockout Intensify as Impeachment Vote Nears

Thousands of Paraguayans marched through Asunción this week demanding their money back after Ueno Bank, a digital lender, locked about 3 million customers out of their accounts.

That is about 60% of Paraguay's adults. The bank also held $800 million to $850 million in public money, including state pension and health funds, according to the AP, so the fallout reaches the pension system.

Anger boiled over Thursday night outside Ueno's headquarters in Asunción, where savers burned debit and credit cards. Paraguayo "Payo" Cubas, a former presidential candidate, tried to join and was booed, shoved, and forced out.

Protesters shouted "divisor" and "oportunista," meaning divider and opportunist, accusing him of trying to profit politically from public rage, according to the same report.

Diario Hoy reported that protesters also blamed him for the Senate's current makeup, saying Cubas put Zenaida Delgado and Javier Vera on his party's legislative ticket, the slate of candidates voters choose from, and that both joined the government's side soon after taking office.

President Santiago Peña, a shareholder in Ueno's holding company until March 2025, submitted his resignation Thursday, but a joint session of Congress called to accept it adjourned without a quorum, according to La Nación. He then said he would face impeachment—a trial in Congress to remove a president—and defend himself.

The lower house had already voted 78-0 to open impeachment, and on Friday the Senate rejected his request for 72 extra hours to prepare his defense. The Senate planned a removal vote for Friday night, ABC Color reported, with Vice President Pedro Alliana next in line.

Horacio Cartes, the Colorado Party leader and Peña's former political mentor, withdrew his support and backed the impeachment. "We will not be on the side of the plunder of public, private and retirees' funds," Cartes said.

Interior Minister Enrique Riera and central bank president Carlos Carvallo have resigned, and eight Ueno executives have been arrested, according to La Nación's Friday update. Prosecutors also opened a criminal investigation into Peña's possible responsibility for the bank's irregularities, which he denies.

Police used water cannons and tear gas on marchers near Congress, and a new law requires most deposits to be returned within five business days, though protesters have not been placated.

The central bank says its deposit guarantee covers up to 228.3 million guaraníes per person, about $36,000, but as Decrypt previously reported, the first payouts will go only to accounts with up to 10 million guaraníes (around $1,600) and no debts to Ueno.

Bitcoiners, of course, rushed to use Paraguay's banking crisis as an example on the benefits of decentralization and self custody, and why the "Bitcoin fixes this" motto is still relevant in today's financial system. "Bitcoin adoption at a nation-state level can mitigate these types of situations," said JAN3 founder Samson Mow. "If BTC is available to the people as a parallel rail, then systemic banking failures have far less impact."

"Bitcoin matters now more than ever. Look at Paraguay today," wrote Stani Kulechov, founder of the DeFi protocol Aave.