Why Argentina can be a crypto leader

The Argentine market, with all its pitfalls, is catching the eye of some big names from Big Tech, who see an attractive destination to develop blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies, given the market's qualified workforce and distrust in the local currency.

Charles Hoskinson – co-founder of cryptocurrency Ethereum, CEO of blockchain engineering firm Input Output and head of blockchain platform Cardano – believes the country is well positioned to be a world leader in this industry. 

“Argentina makes a lot of sense because there’s about US$100mn worth of cryptocurrency here. There’s a community that holds a lot of crypto assets, and there’s a native familiarity with cryptocurrency in Argentina,” he told BNamericas during a visit to Buenos Aires. 

“People have a strong distrust of local currencies and the government in general, and a lot of very talented developers and great entrepreneurs [are here], and so when you blend that all together, you can form five or 10 elite companies that can become trillions of dollars in size.” 

Hoskinson recalled that the earliest bitcoin developers came from Argentina and the first cryptocurrency mobile wallet was developed in the country. Buenos Aires has also embraced blockchain technology for digital identity.

“There’s an inevitability about entering the market, it’s just more of a question of when and how,” he added.

Hoskinson met President Javier Milei during an event in Buenos Aires. “There’s kind of a philosophical compatibility,” Hoskinson said, referring to links between Milei’s economic positions and crypto technologies. “If Milei stays in power and is able to build a strong coalition, I think it's inevitable that the tool he's going to adopt to realize the libertarian vision has to be blockchain.”

Input Output signed an MOU with Globant and started talks with companies like Mercado Libre, as well as with government ministers. Cardano Foundation also signed an MOU with Entre Ríos province to explore the use of crypto technologies for government.

“In the short-term horizon, we’re going to create jobs here. We have a lot of projects where we need good developers. Argentina is a good labor market to hire developers, engineers, scientists,” he said. 

Hoskinson is also looking at establishing the headquarters for the distribution of his microfinance products in Argentina.

He has invested in an African microfinance company and is offering loans in Kenya using blockchain. The company has deployed about US$45mn in capital in Kenya and plans to expand this business throughout Latin America.