This, despite the favorable external scenario and the fact that the lower inflation has allowed to boost the monetary impulse, which is partly associated with idiosyncratic factors. Although somewhat less severe, the problems of fiscal consolidation in Brazil and Argentina, the political definitions during this and next year, concerns about the future of NAFTA and its effects on Mexico, among others, continue to worry. In Colombia, the decrease in consumption resulting from the VAT increase and the fragility of its labor market, have resulted in slower growth than foreseen by the market. Activity in Mexico has been more resilient than the market expected, beyond the lower performance in the margin due to seasonal factors. In Peru, GDP growth has tended to stabilize and shows some signs of recovery. This, after the weakening in the second half of last year, partly due to the El Niño phenomenon and paralyzed infrastructure projects. There is some improvement in activity data from Brazil, but from very negative figures and with still quite low growth rates. Thus, our baseline scenario projects that our trading partners’ activity will be slightly better than we thought in June and that terms of trade will be higher, all within a context of favorable financial conditions. Thus, the Chilean economy will receive a stronger impulse from abroad over the projection horizon (table 1). As is the norm in the Report we publish every September, the baseline scenario includes our annual revision to trend and potential GDP estimates for the Chilean economy.

For example, a card-based payment ecosystem can process around 65,000 transactions per second, while blockchains such as the one underpinning bitcoin do not usually support more than seven in their most basic configuration.27 Finally, their decentralised governance together with the realization of potential cyber threats could give rise to instances of fraud that end up compromising agents’ confidence both in digital assets and in other areas of the ecosystem. The consequences of such a scenario would be compounded owing to the lack of safeguards protecting customers’ interests and property rights. Given its potential scope, this scenario could become a serious problem. For example, a recent Chainalysis study shows that up to $ billion was stolen from digital wallets and platforms during the first quarter of 2022. Nearly three-quarters of said amount pertain to DeFi activity, a rise of 72% compared with the previous year.28 Bearing in mind there are an estimated 200-300 million crypto-asset users across the world, it is fair to call this a nonnegligible impact.29  The regulatory response In view of the extent of the challenges I have outlined, a number of regulatory initiatives are taking shape. It combines public warnings on the risks of buying and/or holding virtual currencies, and both national and international regulatory initiatives that are of the most importance, given the global nature of crypto-assets. Regarding the international initiatives, what started out with the regular monitoring of such initiatives became, in 2020 and at the behest of the G20, a multilateral regulatory response from the FSB30.