Ueno Bank Collapse Deepens Paraguay’s Political Crisis

Paraguay’s banking crisis has become a major political confrontation involving President Santiago Peña and the country’s largest lender. BeInCrypto reports that the Chamber of Deputies opened an extraordinary session on Thursday to consider impeaching Peña, two days after the central bank took control of Ueno Bank, described as one of Paraguay’s largest lenders. The session followed a decision by the ruling Colorado Party to support an impeachment trial against the president, who also leads the party.

The political consequences quickly extended beyond legislative proceedings. Crypto.news reports, citing Reuters, that Peña submitted his resignation on Nov. 5 after Ueno Bank’s collapse left roughly 3 million customers unable to access their accounts and prompted lawmakers to pursue impeachment. Cointelegraph likewise says Peña stepped down amid scrutiny over his former ties to Ueno Bank’s parent company, linking his departure directly to the lender’s failure and the fallout for depositors.

The four outlets broadly agree that the central issue is the intersection of the bank’s collapse, lost access to customer funds and pressure on the presidency. Crypto.news and Decrypt both describe millions of depositors as having been affected, while BeInCrypto focuses on the extraordinary parliamentary session and the central bank’s takeover. Cointelegraph adds the dimension of Peña’s former relationship with Ueno Bank’s parent company, although the supplied summaries do not provide further details about the nature or extent of that connection.

The episode emerged against a period of severe disruption for Ueno Bank’s customers, whose inability to reach their accounts transformed a lender-specific failure into a national economic and political matter. For policymakers and lawmakers, the central questions were who would answer for the disruption, what legal consequences should follow and how oversight of the institution involved would be handled. The combination of a central-bank intervention, a possible impeachment process and a reported presidential resignation illustrates how quickly the bank’s failure placed the government’s credibility under pressure.

The broader digital-asset market was weak when the political crisis developed. Bitcoin was priced at $76,098, down 5.64% over 24 hours and 1.32% over seven days, with a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion. Total crypto market capitalization stood at $2.62 trillion, while the overall market was broadly lower and the Fear & Greed Index registered 28, indicating a sentiment level of fear.

The Ueno Bank collapse also gave renewed attention to arguments for self-custody, as Decrypt noted the contrast between dependence on a financial intermediary and direct control of assets. That framing does not change the immediate facts affecting affected customers, who remained unable to access their accounts in the coverage provided. What to watch is whether the resignation and legislative proceedings resolve the political dispute, whether the central bank’s control of Ueno Bank restores account access, and whether attention to Bitcoin self-custody persists while crypto markets remain under pressure.