Guillermo Torrealba is the CEO and founder of the South American crypto exchange, Buda. The exchange was founded in 2015 and carries out operations across South America in a number of countries, including, Chile, Brazil and Peru. They are currently headquartered in Santiago, the capital of Chile.

The climate for cryptocurrencies in Chile and South America as a whole has not been very encouraging in the last few years. Despite them not being outlawed, banks are frequently deciding to close or freeze the bank account of numerous exchanges. This crackdown has been causing larger exchanges to relocate and smaller ones to go out of business entirely.

Buda is one such exchange that had fallen victim to the banks in Chile. In April 2018, financial institutions across the country stated that they would be closing the accounts of Buda and two other exchanges, OrionX and CryptoMarket. One of the reasons for this was provided by the CEO of Itau Bank, Milton Maluhy who stated that cryptocurrencies in the country required stronger regulation.

As a result of this, Buda and OrionX decided to sue a number of banks within the country, claiming that the sudden closure of their banking facilities was unjustified. Torrealba also went on the record to discuss a difference in how Chile presents itself and the reality of how the country actually operates. He stated “Chile is showing its “B” side, that of being an extremely conservative country, even though we make huge efforts for the world to see us as liberals.”

The CEO of Buda also blasted the banks in Chile, stating that they have positioned themselves as regulators, despite there being no specific cryptocurrency regulations in Chile. “There hasn’t been one regulator, legislator or government official saying that cryptocurrencies aren’t legal, it was just the decision of a very powerful sector of the economy: the banking industry.”

For the duration of the lawsuit, the Chilean Court of Defence of Free Competition (TDLC) ordered a temporary injunction on the banks, preventing them from closing Buda’s banking facilities until a verdict had been reached in their case.

In January 2019, the banks requested that the TDLC lift their injunction against them, which prevents them from closing the exchange’s accounts, however, the TDLC has denied this request. The request was made on the merits of the verdict reached in the Supreme Court’s case between OrionX and the banks, whereby the court agreed that the bank acted legally in closing their account.

The TDLC reached their conclusion, stating that the verdict reached in OrionX’s case does not constitute a new, legal precedent that can overrule their decision.

The situation for Buda is still unfolding and it will be interesting to see how the case concludes, surely, crypto enthusiasts in South America and all over the world will be eager to see what transpires.