Key facts
- Paraguay's lower house voted 78-0 to impeach Peña minutes after his resignation announcement, sending charges to the Senate.
- Ueno claimed around 2.9 million customers, more than 60% of Paraguay's adults, per AP.
- Ueno held roughly $800 million in public-sector deposits, including pension and health funds, per AP.
- Paraguay's central bank placed Ueno into resolution on November 3 after its solvency ratio fell below half the legal minimum.
- The central bank announced a deposit guarantee of up to 228.3 million guaraníes per depositor, roughly $36,000.
- Peña denied wrongdoing over a prior stake in a company linked to Ueno's owners and said he sold it in March 2025, per Reuters.
Paraguayan President Santiago Peña announced his resignation on November 5, 2026, after the collapse of digital lender Ueno Bank left roughly three million customers unable to access their accounts, according to a Decrypt report. Paraguay's lower house voted 78-0 to impeach Peña minutes later, sending the charges to the Senate as Vice President Pedro Alliana prepared to take over, the report said, citing AP.
Paraguay's central bank placed Ueno into resolution after regulators found its solvency ratio had fallen below half the legal minimum. The process, announced on November 3, followed accounting adjustments to the bank's financial statements and left its app, cards and transfers out of service.
Ueno claimed around 2.9 million customers, more than 60% of Paraguay's adults, and held roughly $800 million in public-sector deposits including pension and health funds, according to AP as cited by the report. Peña previously held a stake in a company linked to Ueno's owners, a relationship that fueled allegations of conflicts of interest; he has denied wrongdoing and said he sold his interest in March 2025, according to Reuters as cited by the report.
"My greatest wish is that the return of those funds be guaranteed, that the Deposit Guarantee Fund fulfill its purpose," Peña said in his resignation address, per the report. The central bank says Ueno's failure is an isolated case and has announced a deposit guarantee of up to 228.3 million guaraníes per depositor, roughly $36,000, with initial payments targeting eligible accounts holding no more than 10 million guaraníes.
The report also sets out the case for self-custodied Bitcoin, noting that a holder who controls a wallet's private keys can authorize transfers without a third party, while losing those keys leaves no route to recover funds.