Depending on the results of Sunday’s elections, Argentina could table legislation to support a central bank digital currency (CBDC) very soon. We previously reported that Economy Minister Serio Massa used the promise of CBDC as part of his election campaign. The leading candidate, Javier Milei, plans to adopt the U.S. dollar.
During a Youtube conversation, Agustín D’Attellis, a director at the Central Bank of Argentina, said the draft law would be tabled imminently. He discussed the motivations behind a CBDC, but also revealed he dabbles in cryptocurrency, with accounts at OKX and Binance. There was even some debate about the potential to use Bitcoin for CBDC reserves.
Before introducing a CBDC, the government wants to improve the degree of digitalization in the economy. Increasingly people use cash, so there’s a very large informal sector. He gave the example of restaurants offering a 10% discount for cash payments. This results in a substantial tax burden on those who can’t escape taxes. If there’s greater digitalisation, including using digital wallets, this will expand the tax base and tax rates could come down.
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