LATAM Letter to the Cardano International Community

The Cardano LATAM Community is growing at a fast pace. In terms of Brazil, this was evident during Cardano Rio 2022, the first event bringing together the Brazilian Cardano community. But the repercussion of our actions in the international community is still small. If we do not receive proper attention and support, we will miss the timing and the favorable conditions. And, as a result, there will be a huge loss for Cardano's development in Brazil and Latin America in the long term.

The time has come to transcend the local bubble and build bridges for Cardano's growth in LATAM. The soil is fertile and has been fertilized, but the terrain is so extensive that, to make the most of it, we need help.

Let's take an in-depth look at the current scenario.

Latin America: a giant in terms of population, potential… and lack of incentives

The current population of Latin America is approximately 660 million inhabitants. Among the 20 countries that compose it, we have examples of nations with characteristics conducive to the development of DeFi and decentralized organizations: 

• The current economic crisis in Argentina has been driving the adoption of cryptocurrencies as a way of shielding individual assets against rising inflation;
• El Salvador recognized Bitcoin as an official currency about a year ago;
• Brazil, the “continental country” with around 212 million inhabitants, is gradually embracing Web3 and blockchain.

But there is a cultural trait pertinent to all of Latin America that makes it a fertile ground for disruptive and decentralizing technologies: his past (and, to a certain extent, his present) as a colonized people, resentful of backwardness, with its potential for prosperity being constantly smothered.

Latin Americans yearn for freedom, autonomy, and control over their own lives - exactly the values defended by DeFis, DAOs, and other manifestations of social structuring through blockchain.

What Cardano Rio 2022 showed about Brazil's potential

On September 23 and 24, 2022, the event hosted 25 presentations, including lectures, panels, and conversations.

On the stage, in the audience, and in the corridors passed people whose trajectories are intertwined with Cardano's own history, as well as curious people and enthusiasts of disruptive technologies.

The keynote of the event was the potential for restructuring various elements of social organization through blockchain.

Funded by Catalyst and organized by the local community, Cardano Rio 2022 showed clear signs that, if given the proper support, Brazil could emerge as a strategic country for Cardano's worldwide expansion.

Let's look at some examples of our latent potential, evidenced by Cardano Rio 2022.

The political power is interested in us

The event was attended by Chicão Bulhões, former Secretary of Economic Development of Rio de Janeiro and candidate for Congressman in the 2022 elections. Bulhões spoke about the regulation of crypto-assets in Brazil.

In fact, the city of Rio de Janeiro has been consolidating its position on the national scene as nomad friendly, based on efforts that have established it as a natural destination for digital nomads in the country.

Like the government of Miami, which through tax incentives turned the city into a new center of US entrepreneurship and innovation, the state government of Rio de Janeiro has been striving to establish its capital as the focal point of blockchain and other disruptive technologies in Brazil.

The interest of the political power in these innovations opens up powerful channels of communication that can benefit Cardano's expansion here. It is evident that there are signs of goodwill about a connection between these two worlds. We just need to make it happen.

In addition to the political sphere, Rio de Janeiro also has individual education actions in needy communities about the possibility of financial emancipation via cryptocurrencies.

Thus, it wasn’t for nothing that the biggest blockchain festival in Latin America took place there. Blockchain Rio Festival received more than 17,000 people in four days of programming (more on Blockchain Rio Festival further). Neither was the choice of the capital of Rio de Janeiro State to host Cardano Rio 2022 a random pick.

Anyway, we are talking about one of the largest and most important cities in Brazil, and which is with open arms (any resemblance to the figure of Cristo Redentor is pure coincidence 😉) to receive transformative initiatives that offer new possibilities for redesigning the social organization.

Cardano Rio at Blockchain Rio Festival

At the end of our event, we received the official invitation to hold the next edition of Cardano Rio within the Blockchain Rio Festival. This means that the exposure of the actions of the Cardano BR community could receive an unprecedented boost.

This will be a huge opportunity for us to overreach the local community and show our potential to a much wider audience. However, for this to happen, Catalyst support will be crucial to enable the execution of an event at the major league level.

Possibility of strengthening relationships with large companies such as Petrobras

Cardano Rio 2022 also had the presence of the giant Petrobras. Marcelo Curi, a specialist in Crypto Economy and Blockchain, spoke about the inaugural edition of their Crypto Marathon.

Petrobras is a publicly traded company, whose majority shareholder is the Government of Brazil (it is, therefore, a state-owned mixed-capital company). Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, it currently operates in 14 countries in the energy sector, primarily in the areas of exploration, production, refining, marketing, and transportation of oil, natural gas, and its derivatives.

Currently, Petrobras is the second largest company in the world in ocean operations. In 2020, even with the Covid-19 pandemic, Petrobras reached its highest level of annual production of oil and natural gas - 2.28 million and 2.84 million barrels per day, respectively.

Strengthening relations with this corporate behemoth can open up unprecedented opportunities for Cardano's expansion, both on a Latin American and global level. And, once again, the importance of Catalyst comes into place as the provider for projects that can build this bridge.

Invitation to join the Rio Crypto Hub

In addition to Blockchain Rio Festival, the independent event Rio Crypto Hub also showed interest in embracing the Cardano BR community.

Rio Crypto Hub is the only monthly onboarding event on Web3 in Rio de Janeiro, which promotes human and digital connections between the main players in the global innovation market.

With a focus on social impact, part of its budget is earmarked for the participation of public school students in the event. The program serves children and young people from the social classes with the highest rate of digital illiteracy in Brazil. Valuing young people in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro is not just an objective of the program, but the main reason for its existence.

Cardano booth at BITCONF 2022

The Cardano BR community was present at BITCONF 2022 (Brazilian Bitcoin, Blockchain, and Cryptocurrency Conference), the largest cryptocurrency event in Brazil.

The Exhibit Largest Blockchain LATAM BR project, contemplated in Fund 8 of Catalyst, exceeded its expectations by presenting Cardano and its ecosystem to 1350 people who passed by the booth during the three days of the event (20, 21, and 22 May 2022).

The group gave two talks at the conference, one on the main stage with Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano, and another on the alternative stage, with Cardano ambassador Marcus Vinícius.

In addition, the team members captured 825 registrations from users who participated in the Interactive Quiz about Cardano.

The booth received people from various communication vehicles who were interested in knowing more details about Cardano and its ecosystem, including requesting interviews with Charles Hoskinson.

The Exhibit Largest Blockchain LATAM BR team also participated in an exclusive event with executives, industry professionals, members of the Brazilian government, and important institutions/associations, including the presence of a delegation from El Salvador talking about Bitcoin City.

BITCONF 2022 took place in the city of São Paulo, the financial capital of Brazil, which amplified the visibility of the Cardano BR community.

How our international community can make a difference in LATAM?

We are still a minority in the entire Cardano community. This has a huge impact on our participation in Catalyst. Therefore, we need the international community to realize our potential for the development of projects relevant to the ecosystem as a whole.

In addition to receiving signals of interest from the political and business classes, we are drawing the attention of other crypto communities, such as the approach of Blockchain Rio Festival and Rio Crypto Hub.

Latin America, like Europe and the United States, has internationally renowned universities - with seven of the top 10 Latin American universities being Brazilian.

These educational institutions could be invited to form partnerships in the development of new research, as is already the case with the University of Zurich (Switzerland), the University of Edinburgh (Scotland), the European Business University of Luxembourg, and Stanford University. (USA).

Wrapping it up, we have human resources, the interest of other sectors, the capacity for high-level academic production, and, above all, vast space to be occupied by Cardano in the reformulation of social and financial relations in the south of the world.

Let the conversations begin because time passes by, and so do the opportunities. LATAM needs the support of the international Cardano community to move forward and stop being just a big promise.

If you want to follow more about LATAM community you can start following our new twitter account https://twitter.com/CoraCardano. You will find a mix of Articles in English and Portuguese.  

Sincerely, LATAM community