President of Argentina Open to Adopting Cryptocurrencies as Legal Tender

Alberto Fernandez, the president of Argentina, stated he is open to the adoption of cryptocurrencies as legal tender in an interview this week. Fernandez said there is a big discussion around the value and use of cryptocurrencies not only in Argentina but also all over the world. However, he recognized this issue should be treated carefully, and acknowledged he had limited knowledge in the subject of cryptocurrencies.

President of Argentina Open to Allow Crypto to Become Legal Tender

Alberto Fernandez, the current president of Argentina, expressed his opinion of cryptocurrencies in the Black Box, an interview program hosted by Julio Leiva, an Argentinian journalist. When asked about the subject of cryptocurrencies, and if his government was looking into it, Fernandez stated that there was a big debate over the function of cryptocurrencies not only in Argentina but in the whole world. He stated:

This is a subject that must be treated carefully. In my case, because it is still unknown to me. Some still don’t understand how this money is materialized. These doubts I have are shared by many, that’s why the project has not expanded further.

Leiva pushes the issue even further on Fernandez and asked if they would be open to adopting a cryptocurrency as legal tender, as it happened in El Salvador, or to issue a central bank digital currency. Fernandez stressed:

Everything is possible. Some say that the advantage of this is that the inflationary effect is nullified in a big way. It is also true that it will bring insecurity because some big scams have been verified to be done using cryptocurrencies. It’ is a difficult subject to touch.

To conclude, Fernandez reiterated that the country should not say no to the use of cryptocurrencies because it could bring important advances to the inflation problem, being a somewhat “hard” currency compared to its fiat counterparts.

The Central Bank States Otherwise

While the president of Argentina is open to the use of cryptocurrency, representatives from the country’s central bank have stated otherwise. This is the case of Miguel Pesce, president of the Central Bank of Argentina, who stated the institution was interested in regulating the intersection of bitcoin and the traditional payment system on August 11.

Pesce detailed that it would be prejudicial to the system if the money coming from cryptocurrencies mixed with the funds coming from the traditional exchange market.