Inside the crypto black markets of Argentina \ stacker news ~bitcoin

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Inside the crypto black markets of Argentina www.freethink.com/technology/crypto-argentina-black-market-cash

1292 sats \ 15 comments \ @kr 16 Aug 2022 bitcoin

239 sats \ 2 replies \ @mikhael 16 Aug 2022

Very interesting article. This stood out: ‘Decentralization is a worthy goal, but in practice it seems that most Argentinians don’t care that much about it, at least not in the way purists talk about it. They’re more worried about whether the government can get their hands on their money; as long as the answer is “no,” they don’t seem to care much about who else has control over it.’

Bitcoin maxi’s should learn this lesson - people don’t really care about the philosophy, they just want the utility. Blind adherence to an ideology always turns off a bunch of people, and decreases the rate of adoption because many people are inherently skeptical of aggressive sales strategies. They feel like there is a gotcha.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @om 17 Aug 2022

The only way the utility of fucking the government can exist without the ideology of fucking the government is that someone else somewhere else has this ideology and fucks the government successfully.

20 sats \ 0 replies \ @linesgone 17 Aug 2022

Agree, without the fundamentals in place Bitcoin doesn’t solve their problem. So the “purists” have their place to ensure the state of the network. Than others can benefit from whatever aspects they need. That is the beauty of Bitcoin. It can be whatever you need, be it in the moment of use case.

At the same time there will always be some shitcoin or stablecoin there to suit their niche purpose.

135 sats \ 1 reply \ @earnbitcoin 16 Aug 2022

Remote workers sometimes set up bank accounts abroad so they don’t have to bring them back into Argentina (and thus under the watchful eye of the government). They hold funds in places like Payoneer, PayPal, Mercury, or Estonian and US bank accounts, and withdraw just enough in Argentina to pay for the day-to-day expenses. Sometimes these are set up legally, and sometimes they are not.

125 sats \ 0 replies \ @gms 16 Aug 2022

In fact, this is true, since when you want to bring dollars into the country they will automatically exchange them for pesos at the official price.

Ex: 1 dolar official = 140 ARS 1 dolar blue = 291 ARS

30 sats \ 0 replies \ @pillar 17 Aug 2022

What a great read.

A fun note: as the article says, the usage of cuevas and the ARS<>USD black market is openly discussed and not a taboo topic by any means. A fun example of that is the fact that the dolar blue exchange rate gets openly listed in business newspapers of Argentina, such as El Cronista.

https://i.postimg.cc/RhxnJT9Z/Screenshot-from-2022-08-17-08-35-46.png

I always wonder how they come up with the number. I laugh imagining they might send an intern to walk around Buenos Aires, shyly opening the door of each cueva and asking "sorry sir, how much is it today?".

20 sats \ 0 replies \ @om 17 Aug 2022

I know an Argentinian grandma who barely uses a computer, yet as soon as she heard about Bitcoin from her grandson in 2016, she instantly said “Money the government can’t touch? Help me buy it right now,” and she’s been holding it ever since.

Love that granny so much. The world needs more Bitcoin grannies.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @allark 18 Aug 2022

Fascinating read.

It seems the TL:DR is that people care more about their RULERS not controlling their money than controlling their money themselves.

Decentralization does not matter to them as much as decoupling from those that rule over them.

Tommy from https://allark.io

1 sat \ 4 replies \ @patrick 18 Aug 2022

We desperately need a way to move USD on lightning (without the drawbacks of things like stablesats). Users in these places clearly just want a cheap way to move dollars around and we can't offer that (at any scale, or without the flawed stablesats system) at the moment.

It's absurd that the tx fees for these things are going to the miners/validators on other chains.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @bio 30 Nov 2022

Why you mention drawbacks of Stablesats? The people I know using them with BBW are quite happy

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @patrick 1 Dec 2022

The issue with stablesats is it relies on a third-party custodian holding a derivative position on a custodial exchange (bitmex, etc).

It's definitely a nice feature for bitcoin beach wallet (and the SBW stablesats wallet), don't get me wrong. People should know the tradeoff, though.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @botsforcash 18 Aug 2022

I'm for Argentina and it's crazy the bias the "cuevas" have for Tether here. I tried to push for DAI to them, but after the Tornado Cash debacle the only thing that makes sense is a Stable on Lightning.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @bio 30 Nov 2022

Have you tried to use Stablesats in BBW? bbw.sv

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Silent_Hodler 16 Aug

Is it easy to swap BTC for pesos in Argentina? I know about different usd to peso rates and under the desk sales of pesos for dollars but is it the same for satoshis? I'll be visiting Argentina and want to prep. Would rather bring sats in brain wallet than carry USD's...

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Natalia 20 Aug 2022

actually planning to head there this winter, it seems would be fun to take advantage of the 50% discount too 🙊