The jars and bowls full of old coins and bills of various denominations that are sold in many antique bazaars in Mexico City do not go unnoticed. They make you wonder how those pesos, literally thousands, ended up there. Why weren’t they spent, on anything? Why weren’t they deposited in the bank? Inflations and devaluations are the usual suspects. But why weren’t they exchanged for dollars?
It is also interesting to see pesos mixed with pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, halfs and, sometimes, dollar coins. Mexican metal alloys are offered with current United States money. More than one house in Mexico has corners where old pesos and demonetized bills can still be found today. And yet, from the frequency with which they show up here and there, one might dare to estimate that a few thousand dollars in American currency are scattered throughout the city. If only it were possible to collect them and return them there…
For the average citizen, the options to buy dollars were limited to banks and exchange houses, or to living in the border area with the possibility of opening an account in that currency. Technology is changing things and generating alternatives. People will continue to buy dollars as protection and will want to have them on hand. And it will have them, although perhaps in a different form. The time will eventually come when, outside of numismatics, old coins and demonetized banknotes will, now, be a thing of the past.
Publisher’s note: Diego de la Campa is the founder and CEO of Dollarize. follow him on LinkedIn . The opinions published in this column correspond exclusively to the author.
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