Argentine President says cryptocurrencies may help curb inflation

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A few weeks after Argentine deputy José Luis Ramón announced the sending of a bill to Congress to allow the payment of salaries in bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, the topic once again emerged in the country’s political arena, this time by its president who stated that this class of assets could help control inflation.

During an interview on Wednesday, August 11, Argentine president Alberto Fernandéz disclosed his opinion on how cryptocurrencies may assist the country’s economy, particularly in relation to controlling high inflation experienced in Argentina.

“The advantage of using cryptocurrencies is that the inflationary effect is nullified. The debate about how cryptocurrencies work is worldwide, and I confess that it is a point of caution in my case, because of the unknown, and because it is also not understood how this fortune materializes. But there is no denying it, perhaps cryptoassets are a good path,” Alberto Fernandéz said.

The president also highlighted the evolution and growth of cryptocurrencies, comparing their rise to that of YouTube in recent years, but stressed the need to regulate cryptocurrencies in the country to ensure the safety of citizens, mainly because of fraud and scams that have been perpetrated in Argentina using these assets.

Argentina has the second highest inflation rate in South America – 50.2% in the last 12 months – and as a result, a large part of the population has been using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as an alternative to the dollar to protect themselves from the inflationary effects on the country’s economy, since the purchase of U.S. currency has been limited to a monthly US$200 per citizen .

In this context, a considerable number of citizens who have migrated to the world of digital assets due to the restrictions imposed on dollar purchases have chosen DAI, a stablecoin that offers parity with the dollar and a new safeguard for their savings as an economic protection asset, which has seen its use grow by over 600% in 2020 in Argentina.