“Argentina is a place where cryptocurrencies make a lot of sense”

“Argentina has an interesting advantage compared to the other markets in which we operate and that is that the economic situation in the country leads people to be thinking about what the alternatives are.” This was expressed by Daniel Vogel, the founder and CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange Bitso, during a press event attended by CriptoNeticias.

The comment was made within the framework of the launch of an investment product in Argentina. This generates up to 15% annual return on the tether (USDT) and bitcoin (BTC) stablecoin, even if it falls in price, he explained.

“In the traditional financial world there are opportunities to create returns. And really those who benefit from that are the banks and people who have a lot of knowledge on the subject (which are a few),” said the businessman. Instead, the cryptocurrencies they break this inequality by allowing anyone to make a profit, indicate.

“What we want is for this to grow incredibly and we believe that Argentina has the context that can allow us this. It’s a place where cryptocurrencies make a lot of sense,” he added. Precisely because of the difficulties and restrictions that the country is going through, something that Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, had also highlighted during his visit to the country at the end of 2021.

Voguel said: “In Argentina we see a huge adoption of bitcoin and stablecoins because of that need to try to maintain their value.” He indicated that its use in the country not only it is motivated by the devaluation of the peso and the inflation that the country is experiencing, which he catalogued as “very hard«. It is also because not everyone is authorized to buy dollars or make investments in banking or financial entities due to government policies.

Cryptocurrencies prevent Argentines from going to caves and other annoyances

The entrepreneur pointed out that the cryptocurrencies they allow Argentines not to have to go to caves (informal exchange houses), where he has heard that some have passed horror stories. Nor do they keep their cash in the house or the bank, he said. The latter due to the danger that there will be another playpen like the one that happened in 2001, a fear that he saw that even today continues in the population, although he hopes that it will not happen again.

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Something that also draws your attention is that Argentines convert their money to stablecoins to keep their capital at parity with the dollar and then they have to make payments for their services, so they return it to pesos. The main goal is not to lose your savings with the devaluation of the currency.

Also, another element that influences the high demand for cryptocurrencies in the country is that there are a large number of people in Argentina who work for companies abroad, so it is convenient to collect their salary in these digital assets.

In Mexico, on the other hand, he indicated that they saw this growth opportunity with remittances, where today USD 4,000 million circulate in Bitso. He explained that it is because there are a large number of Mexicans who are going to live in the United States since they do not find job opportunities, and from there they send money to their relatives who are still in the country through cryptocurrencies.

In this way, he clarified that, beyond the fact that they work as an investment, speculation or security of value, he sees cryptocurrencies as something really useful for people on a day-to-day basis. Vogel mentioned that the main one used by his Argentine users is bitcoin (BTC) and to a lesser extent the DAI and USDT stablecoins.

He also stressed that they think a lot about the risks of cryptocurrencies. Therefore, they do not integrate any into their exchange. “For example, we don’t have UST (the stablecoin that lost its parity to the dollar this week) and I would tell you that it’s because of an issue of not being able to be completely comfortable with how it maintains this parity to the dollar,” he estimated.

That does not mean that they will not add it in the future, but he indicated that “it is important not to sell it as what it is not, which is what happened”. He distinguished that it is important for the industry to give simple and transparent information to the user about the benefits and risks of any investment.

The government of Argentina is receptive to regulate cryptocurrencies

The CEO of Bitso revealed that an important part of its growth in Mexico was that the regulators understood what benefits this technology brought to people, what are its risks and how they control them. Something they are also looking for in Argentina.

It takes time to educate people who are doing public policy. If there’s fear, if there’s skepticism, if there’s regulation against it, it’s not going to work. What is important is that they understand that cryptocurrencies generate benefits and that they as public servants should be there to help people.

Daniel Vogel, founder and CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange Bitso.

One of his advisors from Grupo Muchnik added that they are seeing that in Argentina, as in other countries, cryptocurrencies are gaining ground at the government level. This panorama can be seen in different actions that have been taken:

“The Central Bank already has its Fintech desk. The government of the City of Buenos Aires has already made a program to pay taxes in cryptocurrencies. The governors of the different provinces are seeing the advantages that blockchain has for data transparency,” he mentioned by way of example to show the interest that the issue is having at the state level.

“There is a receptivity on the part of regulators in the advantages offered by cryptocurrencies. And there is a good dialogue with the private sector actors also on how each one can bring new ideas to collaborate in public and standards management,” he said. So he made it clear that both the government of Argentina and the exchanges show intention to collaborate so that the cryptocurrency industry grows in line with the regulatory frameworks.