Bitcoin boom: Argentines whitewash US$20 million in cryptocurrency

In addition to legally bringing in foreign currency into Argentina via the traditional financial system, for the first time in Argentine history, the government included the possibility of whitewashing bitcoin in its recent tax amnesty. Even though this possibility had been analysed in 2022, it did not come to fruition at the time. Less than a week left until Javier Milei’s capital externalisation ends, bank deposits in dollars increased by US$12 million.

The companies handling crypto wallets consulted by Perfil estimated that nearly US$20 million in various digital assets have been externalised. Companies recorded clients who entered the equivalent of US$30,000, as well as those who declared holdings to the tune of US$200,000.

For the sake of comparison, ever since the externalisation began in mid-August, bank deposits climbed by US$ 12.07 billion to US$30.68 billion, according to the latest report by Portfolio Personal. Even though he crypto figure is negligible compared to this one, the companies clarified that it exceeded their expectations and value positively that they were chosen.

“We have recorded a bigger flow of clients than expected”, acknowledged to this medium Julián Colombo, managing director of Bitso Argentina, a virtual wallet handling over one and a half million clients in the country and eight million worldwide. 65 percent of those who took part in the tax declaration were already clients, whereas 35 percent signed up for the wallet especially for the declaration.

“There were consultations by companies, but it was mostly individuals. Companies usually handle bitcoin for operations, but it’s more difficult for them to use it to safeguard value and not record it”, they remarked from another in the podium with the highest share. The externalisation system includes cryptocurrency, provided that it is a processed in a PSAV virtual asset service provider registered with the CNV National Securities Commission. 

For the time being, their projections show 20 percent of these deposits have been withdrawn. There is no unified record of the crypto world in this country, and thus Perfil reconstructed these figures based on the main companies in the market.

The addition of cryptocurrency into the externalisation system came hand in hand with the high use of this type of asset. Argentina is considered the country with the highest holdings and purchase of virtual dollars in Latin America, according to a report by Bitso.

Sources in the industry estimate that there are between 10 and 15 million virtual accounts in the country, with people handling more than one. The boom came hand in hand with the growth of companies listed in the stock exchange. Due to foreign exchange restrictions, both individuals and companies sought alternatives to access foreign currency. Not only were they acquired via the MEP electronic payment market and blue-chip swap exchange rates, but also with the crypto dollar, accounting for 60 percent of the transactions of these digital wallets.

– TIMES/PERFIL