No stocks to the dollar, what is the use of crypt in Argentina?

It is fair to admit that in Argentina the popularity of Bitcoin, first, and of cryptocurrencies, later, change controls are largely due of the last 20 years. The generation Millennial Argentina is marked by the 2001 Corralito that our families suffered, during our childhood and adolescence; Already the change controls since 2011, our first years in the labor market. All that erected on a deeply entrenched culture to save in dollars and despise the national currency.

Bitcoin as escape to the stocks

If one looks at Bitcoin’s first mentions in the most important newspapers in Argentina, you will find that the use mentioned is generally that of “Skip the stocks” and send money abroad. The particular economic conditions of that country, together with the high educational and technical level of much of its population, were the breeding ground for the most active crypto ecosystem in Latin America.

Venezuelan immigration since 2013 also displaced talent from that country to Argentina: the conditions of Venezuela for those years (hyperinflation, subsidized energy and also change controls) encouraged many people to resort to cryptocurrency mining as a form of subsistence, giving them experience with blockchain technology. Many migrated to Argentina, carrying that knowledge and forming entrepreneurship related to crypto, including this news media.

Just as many Argentines used crypts to send and receive remittances, so did immigrants in Argentina. In this context and to meet these needs, many ventures related to crypto and pioneering finance such as Ripio (2013), Xapo (2014) and Satoshitangitago (2014) were formed. After 2015 they began to grow much more.

Crypt and Fintech

It is not coincidence in 2015, since that was the year in which Argentina chose Mauricio Macri as president, who promised to apply, after 12 years, again neoliberal policies. One of the first was to remove the exchange rate. The Macri government was not successful and before reaching its term, in 2019, it returned on its steps again establishing the exchange rate.

However, its policies visibly modified the country’s productive landscape. Of being a traditionally agro -export country and failurely industrialized in its first centuries of existence, In Argentina of the 21st century it is the financial, banking and services sectors that are gaining prominence.

Both in the Macri government and in Fernández’s, during the Covid-19 pandemic, we saw the reduction of formal and manufacturing work, the appearance of the Neobancos such as Brubank (2017) and Uualá (2017) and the boom of wallets and exchanges crypt like Binance (2020), Lemon (2019) or Belo (2021). The public of these Fintechs were not workers of companies based in Argentina, but largely freelancers and artists (creators of online multimedia content) who work for the outside and charge fees in foreign currency or cryptocurrencies. Even the poorest sectors of Argentine society were permeated by these technologies of free capital circulation, for example, in the cases of Worldcoin and mobile casinos.

A place for hard currency and privacy

With that panorama, Milei’s choice was reached in 2023. In the Labitconf edition of that year, the concern of the crypto sector in Argentina was that a release of the exchange rate would take away attractiveness from cryptocurrencies, since most users used them as a path of access to the dollar.

However, a 2024 Lemon report (published on 02/19/2025) showed that the effect of reducing exchange restrictions and inflation in the Argentine economy was not that the public left the item in pursuit of the traditional change market, but that The Bitcoin operation grew 3 times more than that of the Stablcoins. That is, in a more stable macroeconomic context (lower inflation and weight devaluation rhythm) the population has not been comfortable with the dollar, but has gone more, acquiring more bitcoins.

This is not surprising if we consider that Bitcoin offers characteristics that the dollar does not. While the dollar is perceived in Argentina and in the world as a strong currency, it is known that it also suffers from inflation, although to a lesser extent. Instead, Bitcoin’s story until today has demonstrated constant valuation despite its great volatility.

On the other hand, the current Argentine government is implementing an economically permissive program while deeply monitored. Policies regarding the crypto ecosystem have been all attacks on user privacy. Likewise, the rules that govern the free change market are also quite strict, since they require that the money operated is fully declared.

With the end of the stocks, the government proposes a scheme in which citizens can operate freely, as long as everything is done under the attentive gaze of the Big Brother. They even try to adapt the crypto ecosystem to that modality, forcing to declare public keys or store the assets in custody services. Banks can freely operate foreign currency, but they were not yet authorized to operate Bitcoin, for example.

A permissive but monitored system without self -ocustody is only one step away from putting its claws again in the heritage of its citizens. It raises a paternalistic logic and a benevolent leader. The liberal-libertarian government is not really cutting the tentacles of the Leviathan but only keeping them at bay while surrounding us slowly in them.

This is not limited only to the Argentine borders, the conditioning to adopt this type of measures are given by international organizations that are supporting the Argentine government (mainly the IMF) and are part of a financial surveillance and control agenda. As well as the parallel, informal dollar market, it does not disappear when the changes of changes are removed, Nor does the crypto space cease to make sense because there are no control controls.

In Argentina, political winds constantly change, and what is guaranteed at one time, shortly becomes sanctioned, and vice versa. Governments attract capitals with open and bleaching promises, and then enclose them with restrictions and taxes. That is why Argentine citizens are used to saving dollars in tickets or accounts abroad as a form of resistance. With bitcoin and crypto, that resistance power only increases.

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