Price data from Argentina’s two largest crypto exchanges reveals the surprising truth about Bitcoin (BTC). According to the price action in Argentina, a BTC is $35,000 more expensive in Argentina than anywhere else in the world. Here are the details…
Bitcoin hits record highs in Argentina
The price of Bitcoin on the Argentina-based crypto exchange Ripio, which has 4.5 million users, is quite high. The exchange says that the current purchase price of Bitcoin is 13.8 million Argentine Pesos (ARS). The selling price is around 12.8 million ARS. So, it has a difference of one million ARS, or $5,000. One of Ripio’s competitors, the exchange Buenbit, is ARS 13,738,800.00; that means you can buy one BTC for $62,000. But there is a difference: Bitcoin’s current global price is $27,000.
This is one of the biggest BTC price differences ever seen in dollar terms. So what’s the reason behind this? According to experts, this is because the official exchange rate between the USD and ARS is not the market rate. Instead, the “Dós” come into play, which Argentines refer to as the real exchange rate for the USD. With this currency, half of the current market rate of 483.00 ARS can only be used by the authorities.
Argentina has strict capital control
According to the Argentine financial newspaper Ambitio, the official currency rate of the Dollar Banco Nacional (Dólar BNA) is 218. According to Buenbit, dollar-pegged stablecoins like USDT or USDC are even more expensive than the market rate at 502 ARS per token. According to experts, this is probably because USDT or USDC is much easier to transfer than cash dollars.
In Argentina, any individual can only buy $200 worth of USD. Citizens also need permission to transfer their dollars out of the country, and they undergo strict capital controls. Likewise, businesses must obtain authorization from the Central Bank of Argentina to access the foreign exchange markets. This has happened as Argentina’s M2 money supply has doubled since last year. As a result, inflation hovers at 8 percent per month or 104 percent per year.
The Argentine government is moderate to Bitcoin
The Argentine government is among the countries with the most widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies in Latin America. As such, it has been generally accommodating towards Bitcoin, preferring to regulate the industry. However, exchanges in the country do not publish their trading volumes – so there is no definitive data. Still, crypto, besides being an inflation-resistant asset, could be the conduit for the dollar in the country.
As a result, Bitcoin has returned to an all-time high at the official currency rate in Argentina, despite falling more than 50 percent since its record high in November 2021, as we reported on Cryptokoin.com. Meanwhile, Argentina has no clue that inflation is slowing. The central bank tried to curb inflation for the first time in 2018. He raised interest rates from 25 percent to 40 percent inflation. This situation did not prevent inflation from quadrupling. According to some, crypto may be playing an important role in mitigating the effects of inflation on Argentines in this process.
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