Argentinian Lawmaker Suggests Saving in Crypto, Not USD

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Tim Alper

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Tim Alper

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Tim Alper is a British journalist and features writer who has worked at Cryptonews.com since 2018. He has written for media outlets such as the BBC, the Guardian, and Chosun Ilbo. He has also worked...

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October 23, 2023 06:59 EDT

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An Argentinian lawmaker has suggested that citizens should save their money in crypto, rather than United States dollars.

The comments came from the MP Martin Tetaz, a member for the city of Buenos Aires.

¿En qué moneda ahorran los políticos que se oponen a la dolarización? 🤔

— Ramiro Marra (@RAMIROMARRA) April 27, 2023

Tetaz was responding to a tweet from a fellow Buenos Aires MP, Ramiro Marra who asked “politicians who oppose the dollarization” of the Argentine economy “in what currency they keep their savings.”

To this, Tetaz responded:

“In crypto.”

Inflation has soared above the 100% mark this year, following years of hyperinflation.

#GS #ARGENTINA 🇦🇷

Goldman Sachs warns of risk of loss of monetary control in Argentina 🧐

Overall, the macroeconomic backdrop remains very complex. Inflation is expected to remain in triple digits, there are increasing levels of financial repression, (sigue) pic.twitter.com/Mgb9gCqfJr

— 🇦🇷Tebb🇮🇹 (@tebb29) May 2, 2023

This has sent many citizens in search of ways to safeguard their savings.

While some have sought to buy USD and other international currencies, others have turned to crypto.

BTC prices last month hit an all-time high in Argentinian pesos.

And some politicians have claimed that the nation should turn its back on the struggling peso and instead adopt the USD as legal tender.

Similar moves elsewhere in Latin America have led to economic problems, however.

This has led some MPs, such as Tetaz, to oppose plans to “dollarize” the Argentine economy.

Who Is Argentina’s Crypto-endorsing Lawmaker?

Tetaz is a member of the Radical Civic Union, one of the main opposition parties that form the Juntos por el Cambio (Together for Change) coalition.

Tetaz was elected to office in the 2021 general elections.

He is a graduate of the Economics Department at Argentinia’s National University of La Plata.

But the recent comments were not the first public statements Tetaz has made about the virtues of crypto.

On February 9, 2021, Tetaz stated that he was “buying Bitcoin (BTC)” as an “experiment,” although he had no plans to one day “become [another] Elon Musk.”

In October of the same year, Tetaz told his Twitter followers that he was selling some $63,000 worth of BTC.

He made the announcement just week before BTC reached its all-time peak price in November 2021.

The media outlet Livecoins reported that at the time, Tetaz wrote:

“It’s a beautiful time to sell the Bitcoin you bought at $46,000 and buy it back during the next dip. Let’s go!”

President Alberto Fernández has previously spoken in favor of crypto’s potential use as a store of value.

Fernández called crypto a “hard currency” during a 2021 TV interview.

But the head of state has recently announced that he will not run for re-election in 2024.

This could well leave the door open for other crypto-friendly politicians, such as the presidential hopeful Javier Milei.