Why Uruguay’s Digital Peso Plan Is the Plot Twist You Didn’t See Coming

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So, Uruguay is flirting with digital currency now-because who hasn’t dreamed of turning your pesos into pixels? Meet Adolfo Sarmiento, the ex-manager of economic policy and markets who got shuffled sideways to lead this shiny new project. Fancy, right?

Uruguay Hops on the Digital Currency Train-Because Physical Money is So 20th Century

The Central Bank of Uruguay is in the throes of a “deep restructuring” (read: serious makeover), which includes eyeballing the idea of digital currency. According to the local media, this drama kicked off last August when they booted Adolfo Sarmiento from his comfy economic policy manager throne, mysteriously mum on the reasons. Suspense!

Turns out it wasn’t a “you’re fired” scenario but more of a “new governance” vibe-with snazzier titles like Chief Economist and General Management because nothing screams modernization like fancy new job names.

The bank insists this is a “mature phase” in their regime-sounds like they’ve outgrown training wheels and now want fresh eyes to sort out process tweaks and competency jazz. Translation: New management, new buzzwords, same bank.

Now, Sarmiento-our once ex-manager, now project lead-gets to dive headfirst into the magical world of digital currency analysis and eventual rollout. Because who else would you trust to pilot the cash of the future than the guy who already knows his way around cryptocurrency lingo?

Back in 2017, the Central Bank of Uruguay wasn’t new to this digital dance. They were trendsetters in Latin America with the e-peso, a digital version of their beloved peso. Mario Bergara, then the president of the bank, said it was all about saving on printing money, dodging distribution headaches, and fighting the shady business that happens around physical cash.

However, like most pilots, this one didn’t quite take off. They wrapped it up after a respectable 66,000 transactions including friendly peer-to-peer trades and some payments-because nothing says “we tried” like a digital peso with limited runway.

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2025-09-12 10:57