Argentina leads key crypto adoption metric in Western Hemisphere – Forbes

According to data from Forbes, Argentina currently has the highest crypto adoption rate compared to all other nations in the Western Hemisphere.

The rising inflation of the local currency, the peso, and the complex access to the dollar have been the main drivers of the current adoption of crypto assets, mainly USDT.

Argentina leads crypto adoption

A Forbes report highlights that Argentines are increasingly turning to cryptocurrencies as a hedge against their local currency inflation. The adoption rate of cryptocurrencies in the country exceeds that of any other in the Western Hemisphere.

According to Forbes, analysis using SimilarWeb indicates that 2.5 million of the 130 million users of the top 55 crypto exchanges are from Argentina. Popular exchanges in the country include Binance, eToro, BingX, HTX and Bitget.

Chainalysis, a crypto data analysis company, reported that Argentina leads Latin America in terms of gross transaction volume, reaching approximately $85.4 billion in July 2023. Unlike many other investors who buy crypto assets like Bitcoin mainly for profit, Argentines usually buy stablecoins like USDT and synthetic dollars. , which have a market value of $112 billion.

Head of Latin America at BitGet exchange Maximiliano Hinz recently commented:

“Argentina is an anomalous market where many people buy USDT and leave no room for much else. We don’t see this anywhere else. The Argentinians buy one-off leagues and do nothing with them.”

Inflation driven adoption

Forbes says the current adoption of crypto in Argentina is the result of high inflation, with peso inflation rates reaching a cumulative 276% in the past 12 months. Things are so bad that Argentina’s diet is shifting from beef to less expensive proteins like chicken and pork. Forbes reports that some forecasters are predicting that steak prices will increase by nearly 600% this year.

The currency’s weakening has led Argentines to seek alternatives, such as buying dollars on the black market, which offer unfair prices, risks of theft and counterfeit coins.

In recent years, stablecoins have seemed like a perfect escape for Argentines, due to their ideal exposure to the dollar and their ease of access.

Javier Milei, Argentina’s new pro-Bitcoin president, is open to dollarizing the country. He predicts that as more competing currencies such as the dollar and crypto-assets come into circulation, people will use the peso less and less and eventually stop using it.

President Milei declared: “We are going for dollarization and the elimination of the central bank so that corrupt politicians cannot steal by printing money.”

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