Cryptocurrency enthusiasts in Argentina are up in arms in what appears to be an anti-cryptocurrency requirement in a deal their government made with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). According to the citizens of the populous South American country, the agreement that restructures the repayment of the $45 billion the government owes the IMF also contains hints at a series of measures directed at stifling the growth that the crypto industry has experienced in the country.
Argentinians who criticized a perceived anti-crypto requirement in the newly-approved deal their government signed with the IMF signal said establishing regulations and measures could slow the growth of cryptocurrency adoption in the country. The statement that slipped into the law project that approves the refinancing mentioned above of the debt declares:
“The National Government, for a better safeguard of financial stability, will discourage the use of cryptocurrencies in the prevention of money laundering and informality. Likewise, the digitization of payments will have official incentives, and additional protection will be given to the financial consumer.”
A deficit of information
There’s already a bad feeling within the Argentine crypto community as they seek to understand better the proposed law’s potential impact and how it could affect the players in the crypto sphere. However, most of them still agree that a deficit of information prevents them from thoroughly examining the impact of the claim on actual encryption usage, which has recently reached record levels.
Bitcoin Argentina, a non-profit organization whose purpose is to incentivize the use and understating of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, recently asked the government through a letter to provide it with all data related to these new measures aimed at slowing the adoption of cryptocurrencies in the country. Javier Madariaga, the executive director of the NGO Bitcoin Argentina, stated:
“We are not making this request for access to public information to hinder or affect the negotiation that the government is currently carrying out with the IMF, but rather so that the community can learn in detail the arguments and policies that they want to carry out in around crypto assets […] to contribute to a healthy growth of the ecosystem and the crypto industry.”
Convinced that the path is not disincentives or prohibition
Others like Franco Bianchi, CMO of Lemon, an Argentine startup that provides cryptocurrency payment solutions, have directly criticized the protocol indirectly, making statements supporting cryptocurrency adoption. Another prominent Bitcoiner, Franco Amati, said he suspected it might have been intended to stifle a potential Bitcoin financing effort, such as El Salvador is adopting. Madariaga added:
“We are convinced that the path is not disincentives or prohibition, but to work in a coordinated manner with the private and public sectors to take advantage of the potential of decentralized finance […] we are concerned that the authorities are agreeing to discourage a technology that has already been massively adopted by the population itself rather than unleashing its potential to address historical problems.”
Tom is a freelance writer with over 10-years’ experience in content creation, blog writing, and SEO specializing in the blockchain and cryptocurrency niche. As a philosophical figurehead, he believes that to make our world a better place, we must invest in incorruptible products and procedures, of which Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are leading examples.
