- Title: Bitcoin lures inflation-weary Argentines despite crypto crash
- Date: 30th May 2022
- Summary: ESCOBAR, BUENOS AIRES PROVINCE, ARGENTINA (MAY 24, 2022) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CRYPTO MINER SEBASTIAN CARSORIO SIPPING TEA ON THE DOORSTEP OF HIS HOUSE CARSORIO’S DOG DRINKING WATER GENERAL PACHECO, BUENOS AIRES PROVINCE, ARGENTINA (MAY 24, 2022) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CARSORIO FIXING MOTHERBOARD ESCOBAR, BUENOS AIRES PROVINCE, ARGENTINA (MAY 24, 2022) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE)
- Embargoed: 13th June 2022 11:58
- Keywords: ARGENTINA ARGENTINIAN PESO BITCOIN BUENOS AIRES CRYPTOCURRENCY DEVALUATION ETHEREUM INFLATION
- Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS, ARGENTINA
- City: VARIOUS LOCATIONS, ARGENTINA
- Country: Argentina
- Topics: Currencies/Foreign Exchange Markets,South America / Central America,Economic Events
- Reuters ID: LVA006120527052022RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: In the Crypstation cafe in downtown Buenos Aires, trendy young Argentines order their lattes and pastries surrounded by screens with real-time cryptocurrency price quotes and a huge neon Bitcoin logo.
The bill can be paid in digital money, too.
Savers in the South American nation are increasingly being drawn to cryptocurrency to offset years of painful inflation, now running near 60% - shrugging off a recent market crash and El Salvador's troubled experiment with virtual tender.
“We launched in Argentina namely because, when you see the Latin American context, it’s not small thing understanding why Argentina is leader in cryptocurrency adoptionâ€, said co-founder Mauro Liberman.
An April report from Americas Market Intelligence showed crypto penetration in Argentina was 12%, around double the level of Mexico and Brazil.
Adoption in hyperinflation-plagued Venezuela is even higher, according to a recent Chainalysis report
The draw is a lack of confidence in the local peso currency, which has depreciated 14% this year against the dollar. Capital controls limiting foreign exchange to $200 monthly are also spurring crypto adoption.
Annual inflation rose to 58% in April and could go as high as 70% this year, a rate which makes crypto attractive, despite the recent crash which has seen stable coins like TerraUSD and Tether slide, and bitcoin drop to a 16-month low.
The central bank has warned repeatedly about the risk of investing in volatile digital currencies, and some adopters are taking it carefully.
Sebastian Carsorio, 23, from a poor Escobar neighborhood outside the capital, has little to lose.
He is looking to dig himself out of poverty using a homemade cryptocurrency mine he assembled with recycled computer parts from his work.
“Even if (the national currency) loses value, cryptocurrency is not based on the (Argentinian) peso but on dollars or euros, so I will always keep the same value,†Carsorio told Reuters.
(Production: Horacio Soria, Anna Portella, Nina Lopez) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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