USDT Trades 13% Above the Dollar in Paraguay as Ueno Bank Freezes 3M Accounts

Paraguayan crypto traders are charging a fat markup on Tether. Early on Nov. 5, a GlobalPartner listing on Bybit's peer-to-peer market showed USDT at 6,942 guaraníes, per Cryptopolitan. That's 13.0% above the Banco Central del Paraguay's Nov. 4 reference rate of 6,144.02 guaraníes to the dollar. Another seller, EzeCDE, posted 6,943 guaraníes.

The GlobalPartner listing took orders from 15,000 up to roughly 1.01 million guaraníes, with Paraguayan bank transfer as a payment option. Three smaller listings asked 4,992 to 5,000 guaraníes, but only for orders between 16,000 and 48,452 guaraníes. On the other side of the book, JACK_CAMBIOS_PY bid 6,020 guaraníes per USDT, below the official benchmark, with pricing tied to payment method and order size.

The backdrop: the central bank announced Nov. 3 that its board voted unanimously a day earlier to place Ueno Bank into resolution. Ueno's solvency ratio had dropped to less than half the required minimum. Regulators insist the trouble is contained to Ueno and hasn't spread to the wider financial system. Ueno counted 2.94 million customers in June, about 60% of Paraguay's adult population, and digital banking, withdrawals and transfers are frozen.

The fallout is heavy. The bank handled more than $800 million in public funds, including about $380 million from the state pension agency, the Instituto de Previsión Social. Money belonging to CONMEBOL, South American football's governing body, is also stuck. Eight people were arrested, Ueno's top management was detained on breach-of-trust charges, and the BCP president resigned.

To be clear, the premium alone doesn't prove Ueno's collapse pushed savers into stablecoins. From Oct. 15 to Nov. 4, USDT climbed 6.49%, from 5,692.36 to 6,061.76 guaraníes, per Exchange-rates.org. Over the same stretch the central bank's dollar reference rose faster, up 7.48% from 5,716.25 to 6,144.02 guaraníes, while the interbank dollar gained 6.43% in the 25 days to Nov. 4, landing near 6,060 guaraníes. Economist Arnold Benítez said that in situations like the Ueno resolution, savers and firms tend to buy dollars as a temporary shelter. Stablecoins have become a common inflation hedge across Latin America, according to Cryptopolitan.

Buying USDT isn't a quick escape for locked-up Ueno customers. Frozen balances can't be used directly — Bybit buyers must send guaraníes to sellers before tokens are released, so the cash has to sit outside the frozen account. Relief is coming, slowly: in a Nov. 4 notice, the BCP said advance payments to depositors would start within 24 hours and take no longer than five business days. Each saver can receive up to 40 minimum monthly wages minus overdue debt to Ueno, capped at 228 million guaraníes, with whatever remains settled after the Superintendencia de Bancos finishes its final calculation.