Argentinians turn to cryptocurrencies amid ongoing economic fallout

• The Argentinian peso has lost nearly 90% of its value against the USD in the past five years.
• A Paxful poll shows that Argentinians are choosing cryptocurrencies as an alternative to traditional finance. 
• 70% of the surveyed population said that they have invested in at least one digital asset. 

In a recent poll, Argentinian citizens have pointed out cryptocurrencies to be the most effective way of protecting their funds amid the ongoing economic hurdles and local currency devaluation. 70% of the surveyed population added that they have invested in at least one digital asset. 

Argentina had been economically suffering even before imposing extreme measures by the government to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The country’s raw GDP fell by 26.4% in April 2020 compared to the GDP in April 2019. A report by the Municipal Bank Foundation estimated that there’s a point and a half reduction in formal wages for every point of decline in GDP. 

According to a poll conducted by Paxful, a P2P cryptocurrency exchange, Argentinians are increasingly looking for options outside the traditional financial space. Of 1,113 survey participants, 73.4% ( 817 people) said that “cryptocurrencies are the most effective way to save and protect their funds.” 

The poll also shows that Argentinians are trying to steer away from the local currency, which has lost nearly 90% of its value in the past five years.

70% of participants added that they have invested in at least one digital asset. They made this decision due to digital assets’ ability “to provide an economical shelter from the depreciation of the local currency due to inflation.” 

Discussing Bitcoin, the surveyed individuals noted that they bought BTC after evaluating its global potential. They also singled out its decentralized nature as a significant merit. Paxful’s Latin American Manager, Magdiela Rivas, emphasized the scaling demand for cryptocurrencies in Argentina. The exchange has witnessed a 37.5% increase in the volume since the start of 2020.

The chart above shows the weekly Paxos volume traded in Argentina. As you can see, it managed an all-time high trading volume of $7,559,504 last week.

Another interesting chart to study is the LocalBitcoins volume chart for Argentine Pesos. Since April 2020, the amount of volume traded per week had increased significantly. Last week over $89 million worth of Bitcoins were traded.

It certainly looks like that the Argentines have opened their arms to cryptocurrencies in these troubling times.

Thoughts from Twitter