The Argentine Congresspeople approved the agreement with the IMF that includes objectives against Bitcoin. Representatives of the Bitcoin ecosystem believe that the community will continue to promote the sector.
The Argentine government signed an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to refinance its debt with the organization. They included the demand to stop the advance of the local Bitcoin and cryptocurrency industry. Despite the stir in the community making life in the sector, recent events indicate the agreement will become law soon.
The details in the agreement became public knowledge once the government sent it to Congress for discussion. At that time, the community learned it included a provision against Bitcoin that committed the government to discourage using cryptocurrencies.
The government sought to preserve financial stability and prevent money laundering, informality, and disintermediation.
The Argentine congresspeople approved the legal text, the first guarantee to implement the agreement with the IMF. The debate took place during intense protests by a group of citizens.
Implications of the Approval of the Law for the Cryptocurrency Sector
Representatives of the Argentine cryptocurrency ecosystem agree there is little information to foresee the consequences. For that reason, the scenario looks uncertain for the development of that sector in the country.
NGO Bitcoin Argentina recently asked the government for information supporting the application of measures on cryptocurrencies. However, specialists believe that the authorities will most likely not respond to the request.
Franco Bianchi, CMO of Argentine startup Lemon, said that the ideal scenario would be a context of clear rules. They would allow promoting the adoption of crypto assets, as in some countries implementing laws on using cryptocurrencies.
Argentine bitcoiner Franco Amati commented he is against an agreement with the IMF due to implications for citizens regarding taxes and inflation. He said that the inclusion of the term cryptocurrencies in the project provides new arguments in that respect.
According to Amati, they intend to discourage cryptocurrencies and thus prevent thought crimes and intermediation. He believes that that can only happen in the mind of a bureaucrat. The bitcoiner suspects the IMF wants to avoid new state funding attempts through Bitcoin like in El Salvador.
What the Argentine Community Can Do about Cryptocurrencies
According to Bianchi, the Argentine community has a crucial level of adoption, and the country could become the world capital of cryptocurrencies. Evidence of that is that the tickets to see Vitalik Buterin, founder of Ethereum, in Argentina sold out in only three minutes.
The CMO of Lemon said the industry is growing, and everyone is working together from the Argentine Chamber of FinTech. He considers that users of cryptocurrencies will promote them due to the advantages of the Argentine economic context.
Franco Amati thinks it is better to wait to see what happens in the coming months. Besides, he commented that the community would see how much the Argentine government complicates startups, workers, and users in the sector.
By Alexander Salazar
