Despite various anti-free market policies discouraging bitcoin use in Argentina, adoption has continued to accelerate in the capital control-stricken country. In the government’s most recent move, the Federal Administration of Public Revenue (AFIP), essentially the Argentinian version of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), has ordered all cryptocurrency exchanges operating within the country to file comprehensive transaction data on their customers every month, according to a report from local outlet Bae Negocios.
The agency is requiring all exchanges to identify all of their clients, as well as all modifications that occur for all accounts. Paired with this massive information grab, exchanges must report total income as well as final account balances to the AFIP by the fifteenth of every month.
For decades, the people of Argentina have been hit by strict capital controls and dramatic inflation spirals, hampering their ability to preserve capital. Citizens have opted to denominate their wealth in the U.S dollar, the global reserve currency, yet have essentially been stripped of that ability through recent strict government policies.
Bitcoin provides a safe haven for the citizens of Argentina to store their wealth in a deflationary asset that is censorship-resistant, cannot be confiscated and operates outside the far-reaching arms of all government entities. The AFIP’s attempt to access all user information on regulated bitcoin exchanges will ultimately prove futile, as it will only incentivize users to use peer-to-peer Eexchanges, hold their own private keys and become increasingly vigilant when conducting transactions.
The Argentinian government has suppressed its citizens’ ability to store wealth in all fiat currencies, but no policy will be able to stop the unstoppable monetary force that is Bitcoin.
Bitcoin will empower individuals and check all authoritarian government agencies.