Josu San Martin, a Mexico City-based Bitcoin “quasi-maximalist”, recently revealed that if the residents of Argentina, a country experiencing a major financial crisis, had purchased Bitcoin (BTC) at the “highest point of the ‘biggest bubble in history’” (in 2017), they would have still “been better off” than leaving their funds in an Argentinian bank.
If an Argentinian had bought Bitcoin at the highest point of the “biggest bubble in history”, in 2017, he would have been better off than leaving his money in his Argentinian bank account. So tell me again how Bitcoin is a horrible store of value. pic.twitter.com/55YuAi9vD4
— Josu San Martin (@josusanmartin) May 19, 2019
Earlier this month, Twitter user Matias (@MatiasTrader) had noted that Bitcoin had reached “an all-time high in Argentinian Pesos (ARS).” This, as the South American nation is suffering from extremely high levels of inflation.
Bitcoin is at all time highs in Argentinian Pesos (ARS). That's inflation for you lol. pic.twitter.com/ZsoXm7IozI
— Matias (@MatiasTrader) May 13, 2019
High Levels Of Inflation Does Not Necessarily Mean Bitcoin Will Help?
Interestingly, Twitter user Moises Cassab (@josusanmartin) pointed out that the main argument being made is that the Argentinian Peso is a “terrible store-of-value (SoV).” Moises also appeared to suggest that there was no meaningful relationship between the declining value of Argentina’s national currency and the arguably better performance of Bitcoin, the world’s most dominant cryptocurrency.
Moises remarked:
Buying Celine Dion 2020 tickets would of outperformed the arg peso. Tell me how Celine Dion tickets are a terrible store of value.
Venezuelans Still Need To Use The Bolivar “To Survive”
According to Josu San Martin:
In a long enough timeline, the Argentinian peso doesn't look that much different from any other Latin American currency.
Indeed, the residents of other nations in the same region such as Venezuela are enduring one of the worst economic crises in their country’s history. However, recent reports which appeared to have suggested that cryptocurrencies were increasingly being used as a hedge against inflation in Venezuela may not be entirely accurate.
Focusing On Basic Necessities
Alejandro Machado, the co-founder of the Open Money Initiative (OMI), a project dedicated to assisting nations with “collapsing monetary systems,” had revealed recently that the citizens of Venezuela have not completely abandoned the Bolivar.
Although Machado acknowledged that bitcoin trading in Venezuela had reached record-level highs, he said that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were “too technical” for most Venezuelans. He also mentioned:
Access to products [in Venezuela] is the number one thing [that people are looking for.] Do I have enough to eat this week or do I need to reinvent the ways that I access food?