A banking disruption in Paraguay left customers unable to access their money when the central bank took over digital bank Ueno on November 3. According to Cointelegraph, nearly 3 million customers—about 60% of the country’s adults—were affected. The central bank said Ueno’s solvency ratio had fallen below half the legal minimum and that an investigation found suspicious lending activity and deficiencies in credit records and accounting.
The timing mattered for payments: David Eisenmann, founder of Paraguayan crypto exchange X4T, said the takeover came as monthly wages, rent and supplier invoices were due, leaving many business owners unable to pay staff. Some people turned to stablecoins to preserve value or keep making payments. In local peer-to-peer markets, some sellers charged a premium of up to 13% for USDt, while the guaraní fell 12.3% over one week. Those figures describe a stressed market, not a guaranteed exchange rate available to every user.
The disruption also sparked a political crisis and street protests. The report says President Santiago Peña attempted to resign before an impeachment and was subsequently arrested on allegations of breach of trust and abuse of office for personal gain. By November 9, the central bank said 93.1% of Ueno deposit customers had been reimbursed.
Original report, published November 11, 2026, at 21:52 (UTC+08:00).