对于阿松森广阔的4号市场（Mercado 4）的许多摊主来说，数字银行ueno的推出曾是一次启示。
For many stallholders at Asuncion's sprawling Mercado 4, the introduction of digital bank ueno had been a revelation.
水果、电子产品和服装商贩可以不再使用现金，转而使用绿色的销售终端机处理支付和转账。许多人此前从未有过银行账户。但现在生意兴隆，使用的便利性让买卖双方都受益匪浅。随后迎来了破产。
The sellers of fruit, electronics and clothing could dispense with cash and instead use the green point-of-sale terminals to process payments and transfers. Many had never had bank accounts previously. But now business boomed and the ease of use was a boon to both buyers and sellers. Then came the bust.
巴拉圭中央银行上周因偿债能力担忧，将ueno置于清理程序中，冻结了数百万个账户。这引发了该国十多年来最大的政治危机，也警示了依赖这类在全球流行的快速增长型数字银行机构的潜在危险。
Paraguay's central bank last week placed ueno into resolution over solvency concerns, freezing millions of accounts. Triggering the country's biggest political crisis in more than a decade, the collapse is also a warning of the potential dangers of relying on the kinds of fast-growing digital banking outfits that have become popular globally.
在4号市场，曾经拥挤摊位间的喧嚣已基本消失，商贩们正四处寻找替代方案。一些人尝试其他银行，另一些人则重新使用现金——这一冒险之举使他们容易遭遇犯罪。还有一些人在等待拿回自己的钱。
At Mercado 4, the bustle between the once-crowded stalls has largely vanished as sellers scramble for alternatives. Some are trying other banks, others are going back to cash — a risky move that leaves them vulnerable to crime. Some are still waiting to get their money back.
“大多数人损失了很多钱。他们受影响很大，”在市场工作了三十多年的60岁服装商贩Elvia Quiroz说。
"Most have lost a lot of money. They're really affected," said Elvia Quiroz, a 60-year-old clothing seller who has worked at the market for over three decades.
在非正规就业去年占劳动力60%的巴拉圭，ueno将自己定位为“金融普惠无可争议的领导者”。营销活动强调，该银行通过简化的开户流程和现金返还激励，帮助街头小贩和微型企业家进入正规体系。
Ueno branded itself as Paraguay's "undisputed leader in financial inclusion," in a country where informal employment accounted for 60% of the workforce last year. Marketing campaigns highlighted the bank's role in helping to bring street vendors and micro-entrepreneurs into the formal system through a streamlined account-opening process and cashback incentives.
“我们习惯了转账。大家都那样做生意，”Quiroz说。“突然发生这种事，一切都垮了。”该银行于11月3日倒闭，导致巴拉圭约300万客户暂时无法使用账户，而当局正努力偿付存款并将客户转移至其他银行。当地一个商户协会估计，4号市场约80%的摊主使用ueno。
"We got used to transfers. People did business that way," Quiroz said. "Suddenly this happened and everything fell apart." The bank's collapse on November 3 left roughly 3 million customers across Paraguay temporarily unable to access their accounts, while authorities work to reimburse depositors and transfer customers to other banks. A local merchants' association estimated that around 80% of Mercado 4 vendors used ueno.
48岁的水果摊贩希拉里娅·埃斯库拉说，她仍在等待自己的钱，觉得很难再信任银行。
Hilaria Escurra, a 48-year-old fruit vendor, said she was still waiting for her money and felt it would be difficult to trust banks again.
“这是对所有巴拉圭人的打击，”她说，“银行倒闭带来的这场危机让我们遭受重创。”与市场上的其他几人一样，埃斯库拉将这场危机归咎于最近被罢免的总统圣地亚哥·培尼亚。培尼亚与经营ueno的集团有商业往来，并任命ueno的前总裁卡洛斯·卡瓦略领导中央银行。上周，培尼亚遭弹劾并被免职。
"This is a blow to all Paraguayans," she said. "This crisis that came with the bank's closure devastated us." Like several others at the market, Escurra blamed the recently ousted President Santiago Peña for the crisis. Peña had business ties to the group behind ueno, and tapped ueno's former president, Carlos Carvallo, to lead the central bank. Last week Peña was impeached and removed from office.
检察官随后指控培尼亚和卡瓦略犯有背信罪和为个人利益滥用职权罪。两人均否认有不当行为。培尼亚“让我们所有人破产了，”埃斯库拉说。
Prosecutors later charged both Peña and Carvallo with breach of trust and administration for personal gain. They have denied wrongdoing. Peña "left all of us bankrupt," Escurra said.
在第四市场商人协会主席莱昂纳多·奥赫达看来，ueno在极短的时间内改变了市场的经营方式。Ueno于2021年才成立，2023年获得银行牌照。
For Leonardo Ojeda, president of the Mercado 4 Merchants Association, ueno had transformed the way business was done at the market in a remarkably short time. Ueno only launched in 2021 and obtained its banking license in 2023.
“经济以惊人的方式运转起来，因为它让开户变得更容易，”奥赫达说，“它让在银行营业时间之外存款变得更容易。”他说，摊贩们逐渐依赖ueno，尽管有些人对它在不到五年内从一家小众金融科技公司迅速崛起为重要金融参与者感到不安。
"The economy moved in an incredible way because it made it easier to open accounts," Ojeda said. "It made it easier to deposit money outside banking hours." Vendors came to rely on ueno even though some were nervous about its swift rise from a niche fintech to major financial player in less than five years, he said.
反对党和执政党议员都提出了各自的担忧，其中最主要是担心ueno管理着大量公共资金，以及监管机构据称缺乏监督。
Both opposition and ruling party lawmakers raised their own concerns, chief among them worries about the significant public funds being managed by ueno and an alleged lack of oversight by regulators.
中央银行最终认定，ueno没有足够资本来覆盖其向关联公司发放贷款所涉及的风险，随后进行了干预。
The central bank ultimately intervened after concluding ueno did not have enough capital to cover the risks associated with loans it had made to companies with which it was connected.
上周上任的巴拉圭新总统佩德罗·阿利亚纳周二表示，95%的ueno储户已通过该国存款保障基金获得偿付，其余部分将在周三前完成。
Paraguay's new President Pedro Alliana, who took office last week, said on Tuesday that 95% of ueno depositors had been reimbursed through the country's deposit guarantee fund, and the rest would be completed by Wednesday.
检方迄今已就乌埃诺银行倒闭一案起诉35人，但巴拉圭人仍在等待了解该行兴衰的完整内幕。
Prosecutors have charged 35 people so far in connection with the bank's collapse, but Paraguayans are still waiting to find out the full story of ueno's rise and fall.
奥赫达说：“现在已经没什么好的选择了：要么你在街上被抢，要么你被银行抢。躲也躲不掉。”
"There aren't good options anymore: either you get robbed on the street or you get robbed by the bank. There's no escaping it," said Ojeda.