Argentina

5.6% of Argentinians own cryptocurrency

How many cryptocurrency owners are there in Argentina?

It is estimated that over 2.5 million people, 5.6% of Argentina’s total population, currently own cryptocurrency.¹

What is the state of Cryptocurrencies in Argentina?

There has been an exponential rise in the usage of Cryptocurrency in Argentina. The temperature has steadily been rising in the Argentinian cryptocurrency space for several months of 2019, creating a clear timeline for the increased acceptance of Bitcoin and other alternative assets. The nation’s economy and fiat currency have been especially wobbly since August 2019 as the stock market hemorrhaged during an upset presidential election. In addition to damaging the return value on investments, this also caused the peso’s value to plummet. Very soon after this initial trigger, Bitcoin's relative valuation and trading volume spiked to levels comparable to those in conflict-stricken regions like Hong Kong.²

Cryptocurrencies’ rising popularity in Argentina

• BBC: Why Argentina is embracing cryptocurrency – April 2022
  Argentina’s economic downturn, with high inflation, a deflating currency, and a shortage of US dollars to invest in, has in fact proved a shot in the arm for one sector: cryptocurrency. As they seek safe havens for their dwindling nest eggs, Argentines — used to buffering against economic crises — have been putting their money into Bitcoin, Tether, Ethereum, or Dai.

• Bloomberg: Cryptocurrencies Prove a Lifeline in Argentina’s Chaotic Economy -Mar 2022
  Workers are increasingly being paid in cryptocurrency to circumvent exchange controls and protect them from currency swings and 50% inflation – Argentina has the highest proportion of employees paid in cryptocurrency in the world.

• Cointelegraph: A year into the pandemic: How Argentina’s economy struggled… – March 2021
  The year 2020 will go down in history as the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and the way it affected the Argentine economy. But it is also true that Argentina has been grappling with economic problems for decades, including high fiscal pressure, the devaluation of the national currency (the Argentine peso), restrictions on the purchase of foreign currency, and so on. Beyond that, events have occurred related to attempts to regulate the cryptocurrency ecosystem, as well as those linked to private companies and the adoption of cryptocurrencies. The following is a summary of the events that marked the last year, along with the opinions of various people who lived it from within the ecosystem.