Bitcoin Forum

Although the bitcoin community in Argentina is not as large as some of the other communities like USA or China, but still for a much smaller perspective, bitcoin have really grown up in there. There are almost 100 services that allows BTC in Buenos Aires. So that's a positive start, and with their economic potential, Bitcoin market will continue to expand at a very rapid pace in Argentina, no doubt.

http://www.coinbuzz.com/2015/04/04/bitcoin-will-transform-argentina/

Bitcoin is still at its infant stage and there is a long way to go. The good new is that it start developing there!

Especially the developing world is needing bitcoin! They lack bank services and their fiat money is inflated.

Argentina badly needs Bitcoin. The country has suffered terribly at the hands of greedy bankers and vulture fund managers. Bitcoin will save ordinary hard working Argentines from banker slavery.

Let me see if I have this correct. Three entities invested a total of $600K to get a piece of an entity that's doing close to $150K per month. If the later entity charged a 10% fee and had ZERO overhead, the three investors would get their investments back in how long?

Further, Sebastian Serrano (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebastianserrano) owns PayMentez (http://www.paymentez.com/).


An entity that accepts Bitcoin. MY BAD! An entity that DOES NOT accept bitcoins.

Further, Sebastian Serrano (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebastianserrano) owns MetaTiendas (http://www.metatiendas.com/).

http://s24.postimg.org/qaz7nwk9x/1qas.jpg

Notice anything missing?

At least one other entity made the cut: https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Awww.devsar.com+bitcoin&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS549US549&oq=site%3Awww.devsar.com+bitcoin&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i58.7637j0j4&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8

Hopefully this is the case. Argentina is a great example of a system that Bitcoin could potentially benefit.

It's good to see bitcoin gaining traction and popularity in almost every parts of world. Whether it is developing country or developed country alike, people regard bitcoin as a form of solution and alternative to the current financial mess. From what I can see, the growth has been on a steady natural climb and although there is really not a lot of people knowing much about bitcoin, but I can see that changing drastically few years down the road.

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I can fully understand why BTC is popular in Argentina.  Argentina's governments, on the whole, have been extremely irresponsible for many decades.  Their government now makes it very hard for Argentines to escape from a badly managed currency.

Bitcoin is partial liberation.  Assuming (assuming things, of course, is dangerous) that the Arg. .gov does not come down hard on BTC there, Bitcoin is a way for almost anyone to escape a currency on the verge of destruction by Socialist hyperinflation.

I would not be surprised to see news that BTC would be gaining traction in Venezuela too.



*** News from Argentines themselves re BTC would be very useful here! ***

for the citizens in argentina bitcoin will be very welcome. but the government itself is corrupt and fully rotten from inside that they will simply ignore it. their priority is how can they fill their pockets as much as possible.

You have to factor in Argentinian inflation, which is pretty serious.  Not as quickly as you'd think.

OTOH, Argentinian inflation is a good reason for Argentinians to put their savings somewhere else besides their rapidly-sinking national currency - even if Bitcoin is volatile and unreliable in value, it's a good deal relative to that.

Corruption is a big issue everywhere in Latin America, and not just a problem unique to Argentina. But I believe that Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is a honest woman with good intentions. Some of her colleagues might be corrupt.. but I can't blame her for that.

Yeah she's awesome. I mean it isn't like the prosecutor that brought charges against her administration died under mysterious circumstances or anything. I wish we had more leaders like her and Vladimir Putin. She would look hotter riding a bear shirtless though.

 

Argentinian Peso has dropped almost 50% in 2 years and domestic inflation is 20%. It is not surprising Bitcoin is popular in Argentina. Argentinians need methods to retain the purchasing power of their money. I only just learnt that money coming into Argentina is taxed at 20-30 percent after being forced to comply with the "official" exchange rate! Bitcoin is going to be popular with any country with a depreciating currency.


I once watched an interview with Andreas Antonopoulos, he actually said that bitcoin will be so successful that bribes could be carried out in Bitcoin because government officials would be reluctant to take a depreciating local currency  :D

The hell is full of good intentions. She is a lunatic.


Domestic inflation now is about 38-40%. The 20% rate comes from the official index, which is being manipulated by the government since 2007. The accumulated inflation since 2002, when the peg with the US dollar was finished, is over 1000%. But the government still refuses to issue bills with greater denomination than 100 pesos, turning the transportation of the money a serious problem. Machines to counting bills are common in the commerce. I think this is done not just to avoid to admit the inflation problem, but to force people and commerce to use eletronic payments. Also, there was a bill proposal in the province of Buenos Aires to obligate merchants to have a POS machine to accept debit/credit cards. The bill only didn't pass because of the pression from the small and medium businesses.

As more and more people in Argentina begin to accept Bitcoins there will be more and more changes that will start to happen. And I think it is good that they have a 100+ services for Bitcoin there. I know how bad the inflation is and how much greedy vultures have been ravaging that country. Go go Bitcoin powah :D

I hope they do adopt Bitcoin, otherwise people there will have no money soon!!!! Gotta make it easy for them to sell, buy and accept BTC

Good to know that, BTC is very helpful to those developing countries, better than bank.

Advantages:
1. international transaction is much faster than bank wire/transfer, so it's convenient for who working in another country.
2. much lower fees than banks.
3. no fake money.

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My beat (among LatAm countries) is Peru.  Yes, there is corruption there ("fairly big time"), but there is also a fundmental amount of economic liberty there -- for now anyway -- that keeps Peru free of some of the distortions of Argentina.  Maybe that is why Peru has such a low rate of BTC adoption, less need...

bryant.coleman

I respectfully disagree 100,000% re Kirchner.  She was a fangirl of Hugo Chavez (the Venezuelan hotels now ask their GUESTS to bring their own TP...).  Her Peronista party in Argentina is the corrupt of the corrupt.  She uses thugs (I can't remember their nickname) to beat up political and other opponents.  She is obstructing a legitimate investigation into terrorism there that may reach deep into the government.

It's great to hear this.
I know that economic and financial situation in Argentina is no so good so BTC surely can help in long term.
Their banks can collapse to, national currency also, so if their government can recognize real potential of BTC, they can become first country in the world to accept BTC as official currency.
This will make them financially independent from world financial institutions (World bank) and give new, fresh, start to the whole country.
We really need one country to start, and other countries will follow as well :)

i lived in Argentina for almost 1 year and know that BTC will be very helpful.
do you already have an exchange where you can buy/sell BTCs through (internal) wire transfer or the actual legislation forbids it?

In this case you can really see what happens when a society is in need of a stable currency. In need of something their FIAT currency can't provide. It's interesting to see if Bitcoin can gain traction over there.

That's impressive for Argentina, nice article, we need more counties to start making Btc more main stream instead of depending on a centralized power controlled currency that may collapse at any time.

That is great news, I always like reading stories about the continued expansion of the bitcoin userbase. Bitcoin is going to be a continued global phenomenon. Dispite minor set backs, here and there.

From what I know, Bitcoin is almost unregulated in Argentina. You can buy bitcoins internally without any major issue. There are also some exchanges too.


A proof of my theory?
http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1782212-un-billete-de-500-pesos-no-todo-lo-contrario-suprimamos-el-de-100
https://translate.google.com.br/translate?sl=es&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=pt-BR&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lanacion.com.ar%2F1782212-un-billete-de-500-pesos-no-todo-lo-contrario-suprimamos-el-de-100&edit-text=

PS: the article was written by an oppositor of the current government

Bitcoin works wonders when you are trying to avoid two digit inflation like they hace in arg.

How can Bitcoin gain traction, when its own exchange rates (versus the USD, EUR and CHF) are quite volatile? I'd say that Bitcoin is even more volatile than the Argentine Peso.

Well tell that to people threatened by hyper-inflation and the fear that their economy or even country is collapsing. It's no wonder people flee into material assets in those times. Bitcoin can be an alternative or a solution here, we'll see!

Hope it can help them

OK... I'll tell them that the Argentine peso is collapsing, and therefore they should use BTC. In the past 15 months, the Peso has lost some 40% of its value, in comparison with USD. Now take a look at BTC. It has lost 75% of its value. Now how will I be able to convince an ordinary person?

Bitcoin could also go up 100%-1000% again. The risk you take investing in an asset like Bitcoin is always a high one, sure. But the advantage to be free of political and economical factors (to a certain degree) is a big one for many people!

You didn't get the point.

The Argentine foreign exchange market is very bizarre. There are a lot of restrictions about obtaining dollars and a lot of the different types of exchanges. You have the commercial dollar, the savings dollar, the dollar for tourism and cards, the soya dollar, the stock exchange dollar, and finally, the parallel dolar (also known as blue dollar).

If you need to import something or do anything which envolves sending money outside the country, you have to fill a lot of declarations, cross the fingers, and wait some months. For some reason, the Argentine central bank is currently holding about 5 billion US dollars which belongs to the suppliers of these importations. These politcs results in the scarcity of imported goods and creates a lot of trouble to Argentina's economy. If you're just looking to buy something over the internet with your credit card, the amount can't exceed the 50 USD.

Also, the exchange rate is very volatile. Just scroll down and play with this graphic: http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1782716-el-dolar-blue-subio-a-1245-y-la-brecha-vuelve-a-superar-el-40-por-ciento

BTW, you can see what happened with the Argentina's money supply in the last years...
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/argentina/money-supply-m0

So, there a lot of 100 pesos banknotes, when the lower bills are more scarce, which hurts the divisibility of the currency. The bank's ATM only have the highest denomination bills. Also, transportation of big amounts is a nightmare.

Bitcoin can be more volatile, but some properties of it as currency may be working better than the Argentine peso. And at some point the government will need to end this manipulation of the exchange market, which will lead to a new abrupt devaluation of the peso and serious impacts on prices. There's a breach of 40% between the commercial dollar and the parallel dollar. Argentina's Central Bank lost more than 20 biillion USD in reserves since the currency controls started, in late 2011. This is not sustainable.

But if Bitcoin volatility worries you, gold can be a good option.

The good of bitcoin is that its price is related to USD so you can save from depreciation,which is a big problem in argentina and some south america countries.
And they can even use it to buy and sell products and services!

The major part of the Bitcoin tradings are against the Chinese yuan, not the US dollar. This in an ilusion bringed by the price tickers. The price being related to a specific fiat currency doesn't protect you from depreciation of other currencies. Also, the US dollar price in the Argentine parallel market dropped against the peso in the last 6 months, so if you bought US dollar in the parallel market 6 months ago, you have less pesos now. And the inflation problem didn't stop, although it had a disacceleration.

Argentina is a perfect spot with all the variables to benefit from BTC: A past of bank bailouts and shitty goverments, and a future that looks like its going to repeat itself.

The volatility of Bitcoin is better than the death spiral of the Argentine Peso. 

The remote possibility of Bitcoin going up by 1000% is insignificant here. People want to dump the Argentine Peso, as it is an unstable currency. They are hoarding foreign currencies such as USD, EUR and CHF exactly for the same reason. Now if you want to convince them to hoard BTC instead of USD, then you will have to prove that BTC is more stable than the USD.

I've been there too. Parts of Argentina are breathtakingly beautiful and I wish you all felicity for your trip if anyone here goes.

If you plan on using dollar denominated credit cards you will also pay a fine or tax for using it. Argentina wants to see the world currency, the USD, knocked off its pedestal and be replaced with a basket of currencies which includes its own within their own trade agreements, but its unclear that they will succeed at this as we can se... China conducts trade using a basket of currencies which also includes gold and silver.

I don't think the chances of BTC going back up to $2k aren't that bad, actually. At least not in the long run. If a stable BTC economy and use cases develop BTCs will be pretty rare after the next block reward halving or two!