Dec 20, 2019
Location: Uruguay
Date: Sunday, 15th December
Project: arielmuslera.com | IOVLabs
Role: VC Investor | CEO
Bitcoin is still mostly a speculative asset in the developed world. However, in countries with a history of poor monetary policy, Bitcoin is now a viable hedge against high inflation and government seizure.
Argentina's recent history is one of poor monetary policy. Between 1991 and 2002 the Argentine Peso was pegged to the USD with the central bank claiming to operate a full reserve. This peg was used to combat hyperinflation and initially appeared to work with inflation falling from 3000% in 1989 to 3.4% in 1994.
The reality was very different, and the strong USD overvalued the Argentine Peso and made international trade difficult. In 2001 the dollar-pegged Argentine Peso was abandoned, and the Argentine peso has lost over 98% of its value with 1 USD now buying almost 60 pesos.
With hyperinflation and the capital controls used by the Argentinian government, many locals look to find ways of protecting their wealth with hard assets. While many will use USD and real estate, more and more are turning to Bitcoin as a way to preserve their capital.
In this interview, I speak to Ariel Muslera and Diego Gutierrez-Zaldivar about the current state of monetary policy in Argentina, the political landscape, and how more and more Argentinians are using Bitcoin to hedge risk.