By Susie Violet Ward · Forbes · 2 June 2024
In mid-2024, several reports suggested that Javier Milei’s government was moving Argentina towards a bitcoin standard, following a meeting between local regulators and an official from El Salvador’s crypto assets division. The article says those reports misread his position. Milei had spoken positively about bitcoin and criticised the central bank, but his main economic proposal was dollarisation rather than adopting bitcoin as legal tender, and bitcoin was not discussed at the meeting.
The talks focused instead on self-custody rights and on regulating crypto asset service providers in line with Financial Action Task Force guidelines. Ricardo Mihura, president of ONG Bitcoin Argentina, said the authorities viewed bitcoin with scepticism and seemed more committed to the FATF and the IMF than to self-custody. At the time, banks and payment providers in Argentina were banned from offering crypto services.