Bitcoin Forum

In another shift toward widespread crypto adoption in Argentina, citizens from the Mendoza Province can now pay government fees and taxes using cryptocurrencies.

In an Aug. 27 statement, the Mendoza Tax Administration (ATM) described the new crypto payment service as fulfilling "the strategic objective of modernization and innovation," giving "taxpayers different means to comply with their tax obligations."

The service officially began operation on Aug 24., but at this stage, it will only accept stablecoins such as Tether (USDT) for tax payments.

Citizens can pay through the portal on the ATM website using any crypto wallets like Binance, Bybit, and Ripio.

(Source: Cointelegraph (https://cointelegraph.com/news/argentina-s-mendoza-province-now-accepting-crypto-for-taxes-and-fees))

This is another great achievement in the crypto space. More of this to come from all country in the world
 I see cryptocurrencies being the world general currency in some years time.

That's disappointing. I would barely call centralized tokens a cryptocurrency, and it's even worse if they rely on a centralized blockchain. As a government, that makes them rely on several foreign corporations.

Any positive news in favor of cryptocurrency's growth at the moment is accepted. The number of people in the crypto community both the Old and new, especially the new ones need some form of reassurance that cryptocurrency is still going to be pumping soon again. If a country like Argentina (the eight largest country in the world) are accepting the benefits and advantages crypto presents for the argentine people against inflation especially as the value of their local currency is on the decline, I think they will have a huge influence on other little countries in the South American region.

It starts from somewhere.

Did you expect much more from the government of Argentina? When I saw the thread title I didn't know if it was a joke or what. Now I understand it. They modernize but with what they can control. Just like central banks modernize but taking out their CBDCs. They are not going to shoot themselves in the foot.

It looks like they are shooting themselves in the foot unless they're going to unveil out a new CBDC pretty quickly. They're using someone else's currency to collect taxes (afaik they have their own) is this a way for their government to attempt to invest off shore? I wonder how well secured a system like this is too from inside attacks (or if there's limits on how much tax can be paid with stablecoins).

This looks like more of an ego boost for tether than anything else, they're very dependent on that stablecoin maintaining its peg now then or at least being fully reserved/collateralised.

Yeah, but even bad things start from somewhere, and you know the message they are transmitting with this approach?
Bitcoin and other "unregulated" cryptos can't be used in daily life because they lack stability, so better to use a cryptocurrency that is pegged to a fiat currency!
They're using a centralized coin that basically issues IOU coins, they could stick to their pesos or have their own pesos coin or Argentina coin this way.


I think that rather than being about modernization they want a partnership that would guarantee a sort of foreign currency flow, an easy way to get a far more stable reserve currency of some sort without having to exchange pesos to USD which would put more pressure on the already strained exchange rate.

 

Yep, I think big country will start accepting USDT or USDC first in order to minimize the risk of volatility, some country even create their own CDBC. After many years until there's no big problem about using crypto as the payment alternative, I think they could accept Bitcoin when the price already expensive and less volatility due to mass adoption. But maybe I'm wrong, they will never accept Bitcoin because they can't control Bitcoin and trace anyone.

I believe they will never accept privacy coins, some centralized exchanges even delist privacy coins.

At this point I think governments are just giving their citizens a lot of options to pay their taxes in hopes of actually collecting taxes from the public. They are not doing this to 'revolutionize' or 'modernize' their payment system, because if they wanted to they'd be starting with improving their online payments first. They probably found out that people are interested in actually paying their taxes if there are other ways of doing so. Cryptocurrencies are something that is more plausible for this goal since people would be interested in trying it out. Also, they can profit off of these payments if they timed their conversions right.

I'm not sold that this is done for the 'betterment' of the system.

Argentina is showing a good start so far this year.  A few months ago we also heard that it launched a project on selected schools for its Bitcoin education program. (https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/bitcoin-education-launches-in-argentina-for-high-schools) So maybe next year or in the following years to come it will also pass a law granting Bitcoin as a legal tender. 

There's a lot of good news this year for Bitcoin and crypto. Singapore, Hongkong, Korea, and Turkey showing signs of interest to become major crypto hubs for companies and businesses. And of course, we have the Central African Republic who's officially the second nation to accept Bitcoin as a legal tender. Maybe by 2030, we have half of the world accepting Bitcoin as a legitimate mode of payment.

If the Argentine government adopts other cryptocurrencies besides Bitcoin, it will be a huge advantage for those who depend on Crypto for their daily needs. But at this point, only Argentina and other countries with a large number of poor countries can consider accepting other cryptocurrencies for tax purposes as the central banks of these countries tend to monitor all transactions involving digital currencies.

Argentina has been experimenting strategically with digital money for years now. While there are still many challenges that need to be overcome, the country is undeniably making progress in integrating cryptocurrencies into local life. In my opinion, this new crypto-friendly decision in the province of Mendoza feels like a step in the right direction.

Your comments touch on a really important point in this news. Undoubtedly, this innovation is done for the sole purpose of collecting more taxes, and not to improve the lives of its citizens. The system is designed in such a way as to pursue its own interests. In this case, tax collection. It seems naive to me to expect positive things in similar events. Many crypto enthusiasts are happy that Argentina began to accept crypto for taxes, but personally I don't see anything positive so far. Especially in the sense that we are talking about USDT.

I guess in reality they are simply accepting Bitcoin as a payment method and will convert it almost instantly into the fiat currency form. It's a bit of a sneaky way for them to improve their tax collection methods while simultaneously helping them to identify citizens who use cryptocurrency and are more likely to have hidden assets worth pursuing afterwards. If I was living in Argentina I would be very weary about using this payment method, when it's possible to convert bitcoin to fiat currency then cash out via a global bank account which is not necessarily going to be covered by Argentine tax reporting laws. It's slightly good for at least the perception of wider bitcoin adoption however.

When I received first the read the news all that came to mind was that, this is a step in the right direction. El Salvador first set the example and now Argentina is following though cautiously. I like it. I am not perturbed that they have for now chosen a stable coin. I believe they are just testing the waters and sooner than later they will slowly introduce bitcoin.

On the other hand, what changed? In May, it was reported (https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/central-bank-of-argentina-bans-banks-from-offering-bitcoin-crypto-services#:~:text=The%20central%20bank%20of%20Argentina,such%20services%20to%20its%20clients.) that the central bank of Argentina had banned financial institutions from offering any services involving cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.

Except for a few exceptions we need to always assume that whatever a politician does is always done with only one idea in mind, which is to benefit themselves, they do not really care about their citizens at all but they do care about keeping their privileges, and with this in mind there are two main reasons why I think they may have done something like that, cryptocurrencies are popular at Argentina due to the awful economic management of the government so they are trying to obtain some kind of foreign currency even if indirectly, while the second reason is the one that you state as they are trying to invite people to pay their taxes while at the same time they are trying to identify as well the people that use cryptocurrencies in their country.