Argentina's Largest Private Bank Continues Trend of BTC Adoption

Neither this post nor any other on cryptofal.com should be taken as financial advice. It is not.

In the past few weeks, Bitcoin (BTC) has taken large strides towards advancing in the mainstream world.  Australia announced the approval of its first Bitcoin ETF, the Central African Republic adopted BTC as legal tender, and Panama is on the cusp of integrating cryptocurrency payments into its economy. The most recent development comes from Argentina, where the largest market value private bank, Banco Galicia, and digital bank Brubank SAU announced that the purchase of BTC, ETH, and USDC is now available to their customers.

As per Bloomberg News, the decision for Banco Galicia to move into cryptocurrency came after a survey from their customers indicated that 60% wanted easy access to the crypto market directly through their bank.  The majority of those respondents in favor of crypto tended to be a younger demographic, whose knowledge of the crypto market and coins far exceeds that of other generations.

While the popularity of crypto is on the rise, Argentineans' interest is primarily to diversify their portfolio and move their money into assets resistant to inflation.  The Argentinian economy has suffered from hyperinflation since before the pandemic, and the effects have only worsened in the subsequent two years.  As of March, the inflation rate is at a staggering 55.11%.  Its economy fights an uphill battle, with 40% of the population living at or below the poverty line.

The correlation between a struggling economy and crypto adoption has been true for a number of countries passing crypto friendly policies over the past year.  For some, institutional adoption comes out of necessity to hedge against native currencies.

Nevertheless, the takeaway here is that the rise in confidence of cryptocurrencies continues both in consideration of and despite the global economic uncertainty. The stress placed on countries by the pandemic, supply shocks, and uncertain commodity prices makes a case that crypto isn't quite the riskiest asset it was once assumed to be.