Sergio Massa’s views on digital currencies issued by the central bank look diametrically opposed to those of Javier Milei, a pro-Bitcoin politician who supports the elimination of Argentina’s central bank.
If elected, Sergio Massa, an Argentine presidential contender, has promised to introduce a central bank digital currency (CBDC) to “solve” the country’s protracted inflation issue.
“As the campaign for Argentina’s presidential election heated up on October 2, the country’s second-place contender said, “I am clear that inflation is a huge problem in Argentina,” before revealing his proposal to “solve” the country’s devastating inflation.”
“We want to introduce the cryptocurrency to the Argentine market soon. […] We’re going to roll it out over the whole of Argentina, and we’re going to do it in tandem with legislation against money laundering that makes it easier for people with money overseas to bring it home and spend it without incurring any additional tax liability.”
Massa, Argentina’s current Minister of Economy, has dismissed calls for the country to adopt the US currency.
Dollarization is the source of the dollar’s allure. Patriots, he pleaded, “defend our currency” (the U.S. dollar) rather than advocating for its usage elsewhere. On October 22, Argentinians will go to the polls for general elections.
According to the American think group AS/COA, Massa has the greatest support in urban areas like the Buenos Aires province (16.6 million out of the country’s 46 million total population) whereas Milei has the most support in rural areas.
Milei has already hinted at a desire to replace the Argentine peso with the U.S. dollar. Milei is a libertarian economist who has long been skeptical of central banks. His platform includes the elimination of Argentina’s central bank.
Milei has said that Bitcoin was created as a defense against “central bank scammers,” and that the Argentine peso enables politicians to steal money from the people of Argentina via inflation.
Patricia Bullrich, the third-most-popular candidate for president of Argentina, has been said to support a monetary system in which both the Argentine peso and the U.S. dollar are recognized as legal cash.
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