ARGENTINA COULD BE THE 1ST COUNTRY USING BITCOIN AS OFFICIAL CURRENCY

[ffe]

The Argentine Peso is worthless and has been a joke for the last three decades.  They default on their debt anytime the economy sneezes.  Bitcoin would be quite a boon for the Argentines ...

But I won't loan them any! :-)

A boon for Argentines???  How could they adopt Bitcoin? For all practical purposes almost no one there owns any and no one could get their hands on any without selling most of their assets. They would be crazy to borrow in Bitcoin because it will be much more costly to pay back in the future.

No one would have the money to pay anyone else for any service or asset. The economy would be dead.

They'd be dirt poor for ever after.

[jbreher]

...

I agree with your assessment of Argentina's integrity with respect to these loans.

I'd be interested in your analysis of the fact that the USA is refusing to return Germany's gold.

[Harley997]

Bitcoin needs to be a more stable currency before ANY country will even think about adopting it

[doubleredrolex]

Its too soon for BTC to become an official currency. 99.999999% of the people in Argentina are probably not capable if using BTC because of technology limits, personal age, location etc. BTC needs a lot of software app development to make transactions mindless and super super easy for even the oldest non-tech person. Its a couple years away from everyone being able to easily use it.

[hualehua]

maybe bitcoin will be very popular in 2 years.

[vqp]

I really don't know if Bitcoin would be 'compatible' as a nation-wide currency. Especially countries that suffer from economic problems need to have the ability of pulling certain levers and knobs in order to influence the market or stabilize the economy. Since Bitcoin is decentralized and an inherently unregulated currency, this won't be possible. But the idea is bold!

Check Ecuador. They were using US Dollar for some years now, and they survived

[polynesia]

I really don't know if Bitcoin would be 'compatible' as a nation-wide currency. Especially countries that suffer from economic problems need to have the ability of pulling certain levers and knobs in order to influence the market or stabilize the economy. Since Bitcoin is decentralized and an inherently unregulated currency, this won't be possible. But the idea is bold!

Interest rates, reserve requirements for banks, etc are levers which will still be available to them.

[JohnFromWIT]

Seems very radical.
Everyone in Argentina would need access to it,
not be scared to death of it,
many would need training in it,
there would need to be special groups set up to help counteract the influx of scammers and con artists.

Would a country need it's people on side to change it's currency, or is it just a government decision?

[polynesia]

Seems very radical.
Everyone in Argentina would need access to it,
not be scared to death of it,
many would need training in it,
there would need to be special groups set up to help counteract the influx of scammers and con artists.

Would a country need it's people on side to change it's currency, or is it just a government decision?

You could have physical bitcoins/ satoshis circulated. This would solve the problem of access/ training.

[ffe]

You could have physical bitcoins/ satoshis circulated. This would solve the problem of access/ training.

Where would they come from? Argentina can't produce Bitcoins, physical or otherwise, out of thin air to circulate.

[galbros]

This is a fantasy.  Bitcoin is a deflationary currency. Argentina tried a relatively stable currency and got hammered as its neighbors allowed their currencies to depreciate.  Maybe the people of Argentina will see bitcoin as electronic gold and hold some in hopes of using it as a store of value, but offical adoption is not going to happen, unless maybe you have an inside track to be the next dictator of Argentina.

[polynesia]

You could have physical bitcoins/ satoshis circulated. This would solve the problem of access/ training.

Where would they come from? Argentina can't produce Bitcoins, physical or otherwise, out of thin air to circulate.

Argentina would have to buy them.
You will have to do the same things that you do when you dollarize an economy.

[mnmShadyBTC]

Seems very radical.
Everyone in Argentina would need access to it,
not be scared to death of it,
many would need training in it,
there would need to be special groups set up to help counteract the influx of scammers and con artists.

Would a country need it's people on side to change it's currency, or is it just a government decision?

You could have physical bitcoins/ satoshis circulated. This would solve the problem of access/ training.

These could be easily counterfeited and would remove the ledger system (blockchain) that bitcoin uses. Most people would have no way to know for sure that there is a balance in the physical coin, nor would they know what it would look like. This would just open up too many possibilities for scams.

[twiifm]

You could have physical bitcoins/ satoshis circulated. This would solve the problem of access/ training.

Where would they come from? Argentina can't produce Bitcoins, physical or otherwise, out of thin air to circulate.

Argentina would have to buy them.
You will have to do the same things that you do when you dollarize an economy.

They wouldn't peg to bitcoin… too much volatility.

[ffe]

You could have physical bitcoins/ satoshis circulated. This would solve the problem of access/ training.

Where would they come from? Argentina can't produce Bitcoins, physical or otherwise, out of thin air to circulate.

Argentina would have to buy them.
You will have to do the same things that you do when you dollarize an economy.

Buy them with what? Sell half their assets? 90% of the population probably has no extra assets they can sell. They rely on salaries which cannot be paid because they have to be paid in non-existent Bitcoin.

You can borrow dollars. You can't borrow Bitcoins.  Get real.

[polynesia]

You can borrow dollars. You can't borrow Bitcoins.  Get real.

If you can borrow dollars, you definitely can convert them to bitcoins. 

[ffe]

You can borrow dollars. You can't borrow Bitcoins.  Get real.

If you can borrow dollars, you definitely can convert them to bitcoins. 

You win. Let's see you convince them of this.

[wolfYella]

You could have physical bitcoins/ satoshis circulated. This would solve the problem of access/ training.

Where would they come from? Argentina can't produce Bitcoins, physical or otherwise, out of thin air to circulate.

Argentina would have to buy them.
You will have to do the same things that you do when you dollarize an economy.

Buy them with what? Sell half their assets? 90% of the population probably has no extra assets they can sell. They rely on salaries which cannot be paid because they have to be paid in non-existent Bitcoin.

You can borrow dollars. You can't borrow Bitcoins.  Get real.

The citizens generally do not have extra assets, but the employers likely do.

[dadaas]

If Argentina ever make Bitcoin official that would be great propaganda and it will ensure that Bitcoin keeps living and raising in its price!

[bigasic]

That would be awesome, but im afraid its too good to be true. But, if they have heads on their shoulders, they would at least look at it..