The IMF seems to continue in its efforts to contain the advance of cryptocurrencies after declaring that they suppose “immediate and acute risks” for emerging markets such as those in Latin America, accusing cryptocurrencies of having the power to destabilize economies from developing countries. After El Salvador decided to accept Bitcoin as legal tender, the international body raised concerns about how this would affect consumer protection or increase contingent tax liabilities.
One of the reasons why Argentina is more subject to pressure from the IMF is that is the Latin American country that owes the most to the Fund. This is why in the press there is already talk of a “anti bitcoin lab”, since there is a propitious scenario to experiment with actions that seek to discourage the use of cryptocurrencies.
The Argentine government depended on the IMF agreeing to refinance its debt of nothing more and nothing less than 45 billion USD, which was approved by law after the approval of the houses of parliament. It is not surprising that the country wants to please the IMF in its urgency to approve this law, especially when the payment due date was approaching. Argentina is also in a delicate situation due to its history of defaulting on its sovereign debt. The success that bitcoin has had in this country is due precisely to economic instability that drags the country, since citizens looked to digital currencies like bitcoin for a refuge value to help them escape inflation. This attracted numerous companies in the sector.
The clause of the agreement seems to be a bit ambiguous, so at the moment there is not enough information to have an idea of the repercussions. The authorities do not seem very willing to respond to requests to have access to public information that have been made by some associations such as the NGO Bitcoin Argentina. Some industry voices they regret that it is not being done as in other countries where legislation is being promoted promoting positive laws regarding the use of cryptocurrencies.
Franco AmatiArgentine bitcoiner co-founder of the startup Signatura, harshly criticizes these measures “it is intended to put as a condition ‘discourage the use of cryptocurrencies’ to prevent thought crimes and even ‘disintermediation’, which only in the bankrupt mind of a bureaucrat can have a negative connotation”. He also adds that he suspects that the IMF is trying to prevent state financing attempts through Bitcoin, as can happen in El Salvador.
It seems that all that is known so far is that some of the measures would be applied through the Financial Information Unit (UIF), which is already in charge of detecting and preventing money laundering. Plans would point to companies in the sector have to register and report the transactions carried out by its clients. The industry is eagerly awaiting access to more specific regulatory information as soon as possible to make a decision on the direction this situation may take and how it may affect the domestic crypto market.
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