By Susie Violet Ward · Forbes · 20 November 2023
Javier Milei won Argentina’s presidential run-off on 19 November 2023 with about 55% of the vote, nearly three million votes ahead of his opponent, according to Bloomberg. Milei had called the central bank a “scam” and pledged to close it and replace the peso with the US dollar, at a time when annual inflation in Argentina exceeded 140%.
His opponent, Sergio Massa, then Minister of Economy, had proposed a central bank digital currency to tackle inflation. The article notes that Milei had not formally proposed making bitcoin legal tender. Fernando Nikolić of Blockstream welcomed the result, while CoinTelegraph journalist Joe Nakamoto questioned how Milei’s libertarian views fitted with his opposition to abortion. In an interview for the article, Nikolić said Milei had suggested putting the issue to a vote and that Argentina faced larger structural problems.