Latam Insights: Petrobras Eyes Bitcoin Mining, Brazil Probes Sam Altman's World

Welcome to Latam Insights, a compendium of the most relevant crypto and economic news from Latin America over the past week. In this week’s edition of Latam Insights, Petrobras starts researching bitcoin mining, Brazil probes World, and Berkshire Hathaway increases Nubank’s holdings.

Brazilian Oil Giant Petrobras Starts Looking Into Bitcoin Mining

Bitcoin mining is starting to be considered by large oil companies in the world. Petrobras, a Brazilian state-owned company that produces nearly 3 million crude barrels, is now researching the integration of bitcoin mining into its processes.

The objective of this implementation would be to develop a business model capable of implementing these operations to lower the company’s carbon emissions.

Marcelo Curi, Blockchain & Token Economy Certified Architect, who is at the helm of this process, disclosed that the company was “at the heart of a historic R&D” process that seeks to develop business/process models with this “powerful innovative framework, in favor of the value chain/networks in the transition to low carbon.”

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Brazilian Data Protection Agency Reveals Investigation Into Sam Altman’s Iris Scanning World Project

World, the project formerly known as Worldcoin, is facing increased scrutiny in its data collection activities from Brazilian authorities. The National Data Protection Authority (ANPD), Brazil’s data watchdog agency, issued a note reminding World’s operations are being monitored by the agency, and that there is an ongoing probe into the company’s inner workings and the destiny of the private biometric data collected.

Given the sensitivity of the data collected by the project, the ANDP has been treating World differently than other entities, limiting the protections that companies of this kind might enjoy. According to local media, the institution declared:

Due to the higher risks that the processing of this type of personal data can pose, the legislator has granted them a more rigorous protection regime, limiting the legal hypotheses that authorize their processing.

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Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Increases Holdings in Brazilian Digital Bank Nubank

Berkshire Hathaway’s stake in Nubank rose from 0.1% in Q4 2022 to 0.4% in Q3 2024, according to recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings. This increased Hathaway’s holdings to 86 million Nubank shares, valued at nearly $1.2 billion.

Nubank is a digital banking business based in Brazil that serves the cryptocurrency market and has its own crypto platform. In a 2021 Series G funding round, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway first contributed $500 million, then another $250 million.

In 2022, Nubank introduced Nubank Cripto, its cryptocurrency platform with support for bitcoin, ether, and polygon. The platform enables users to send, receive, and convert cryptocurrency.

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