Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies are here to stay as the alternative to a flawed system
This is why they strives so much better during economic and political chaos
Buenos Aires, 18 December 2017
Argentina has been in a rollercoaster of economic and political instability since ever. The latest big crash in 2001, "corralito", saw all banks basically shut down their customers outside of their bank accounts, the money gone. A couple corrupt governments later, and we are still seeing a solid 25-35% anual inflation
Now, to face all this, Argentinians have developed two key behaviors:
First, stash their savings at home. Untrusting of banks and national institutions gave them an independence and self reliance for economic matters. All Argentinians know that their money is safer at home
Second, save in a foreign currency (USDollars). The devaluation of national currency Peso creates this incentive making it way safer to hodl accumulated value in another currency. This built the mentality for pricing goods in different currencies
Top this with an array of companies working as alternatives to bank money handling
For example Uala.com.ar, a mobile app that works as a bank account and debit card that's completely independent from any bank; or Mercadopago, a non-governmental payment system that took over all online and wire payment methods
This made them ripe for cryptocurrencies
And in deed, Bitcoin Argentina is one of the biggest cryptocurrency communities, they have their own NGO and can easily fill a theatre with a Bitcoin conference. They even have a Bitcoin Embassy: a 4 story, co-working building where a dozen related companies share a space
And in deed, the government is not falling behind. As of 2018 a new regulation is going to apply to all cryptocurrency exchanges, and define how the market will move around these exchanges
In response, the NGO is right now, with a panel of lawyers and politicians, actively lobbying for the dismissal of the regulation
Argentina looks today like the political sandbox. The desitions taking place today here may not be of much influence in US or Japanese markets, but they give an example, a glimpse into the future of what can happen