Bitcoin World #1 - What Argentina Can Teach Us About Bitcoin with Ariel Muslera and Diego Gutierrez-Zaldivar

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“In Argentina, banks screwed up a lot of people many, many, many times. People forget about those things, but every 5, 7, 10 years we are reminded that the banks are not there to protect our assets.”
— Ariel Muslera

SHOW DESCRIPTION

Location: Uruguay
Date: Sunday, 15th December
Project: arielmuslera.com | IOVLabs
Role: VC Investor | CEO

Bitcoin is still mostly a speculative asset in the developed world. However, in countries with a history of poor monetary policy, Bitcoin is now a viable hedge against high inflation and government seizure. 

Argentina's recent history is one of poor monetary policy. Between 1991 and 2002 the Argentine Peso was pegged to the USD with the central bank claiming to operate a full reserve. This peg was used to combat hyperinflation and initially appeared to work with inflation falling from 3000% in 1989 to 3.4% in 1994. 

The reality was very different, and the strong USD overvalued the Argentine Peso and made international trade difficult. In 2001 the dollar-pegged Argentine Peso was abandoned, and the Argentine peso has lost over 98% of its value with 1 USD now buying almost 60 pesos.

With hyperinflation and the capital controls used by the Argentinian government, many locals look to find ways of protecting their wealth with hard assets. While many will use USD and real estate, more and more are turning to Bitcoin as a way to preserve their capital.

In this interview, I speak to Ariel Muslera and Diego Gutierrez-Zaldivar about the current state of monetary policy in Argentina, the political landscape, and how more and more Argentinians are using Bitcoin to hedge risk.

TIMESTAMPS

00:04:28: Introductions
00:05:36: Background to Diego and Ariel
00:08:07: Argentina’s financial system and the Corralito
00:14:26: The impact of the Corralito
00:17:23: Inflation in Argentina
00:22:08: The political landscape in Argentina
00:30:10: State and local province currencies
00:33:56: Problems after the Corralito
00:39:17: The ever-changing economy
00:47:21: Wealth distribution in Argentina
00:49:28: Bitcoin in Argentina
00:54:47: Regulatory environment in Argentina
00:56:49: Exchanging Bitcoin in Argentina
01:00:20: Stablecoins
01:04:29: Educating Argentinian people about Bitcoin
01:11:56: Final comments

 

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PodcastPeter McCormack