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The Solution To Argentina's Banking Problems Is To Go Cashless

Posted by Soulskill on from the why-would-you-carry-around-slips-of-paper-and-shards-of-metal-anyway dept.

dkatana writes: There is no way back for Argentinian people to trust their own currency. Several governments have used the "Peso/Dollar" exchange to dig into people's savings, reward their friends and limit the freedom of citizens to use other currencies.

Short of Dollarizing the economy again, the only solution for the country is going cashless. People are desperate, and they're looking for alternatives such as mobile payments, Amazon gift cards and Bitcoin to store their savings away from government control. A digital currency could help curb black market exchanges, fight corruption and restore the country's image.

5 of 294 comments (clear)

  1. "Cashless" is meaningless by jodido · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Cashless is a convenience. You need a currency. And once there is one, you're in the dollar world again.

    1. Re:"Cashless" is meaningless by roman_mir · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's not meaningless if your goal is to steal and that's what that 'article' proposes - theft.

      1. Government steals by forcing people to declare all of their cash savings and to justify them to transfer them into the electronic form.

      2. Government steals by creating inflation electronically, so it's cheaper and faster for the government to create vast amounts of virtual money and dilute existing savings, thus stealing (creating inflation).

      3. Government can steal everything at any time by simply emptying your bank account and leaving you with nothing.

      4. Government will steal by setting stupid exchange rates that are absolutely fake, like pegging the exchange say 1USD to 10Pesos while on the 'black market' you would get many times more pesos, for example 100 for 1.

      5. Government can control you if you do not have access to your own money, and it can prevent you from doing anything they don't like and punish you for doing anything they don't approve of.

      It's a gigantic con, don't fall for it, it doesn't matter what the name of the currency is if you are not even able to have it in your own hands.

      Basically if you cannot hold your own money in your own hands but government holds it for you (directly or through proxy banks) you are fucked, you have nothing.

      If you try to switch to gold and other currencies of your choice, you will be labeled a 'speculator' and 'enemy of the working class' etc., and you can be dealt with criminally.

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  2. cashless = no privacy and lots of govt control by ciaran2014 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We've made very little progress in anonymising cashless transactions (and this proposal might rely on transactions never being anonymous).

    This not only reduces people's privacy but also gives government officials a way to remotely block you from making any payments. That's severe.

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  3. Greetings from Argentina by ericlondaits · · Score: 5, Insightful

    1 - We're nowhere near desperate. We've been desperate-ish in the past... not lately.

    2 - We have a high but predictable inflation... it's impossible to save in Pesos, so it stimulates spending and the economy survives.

    3 - Purchase of dollars is restricted but there's a "healthy" black market that sells at a higher but well know rate (it's published in the newspapers and there are websites that inform the black market rate as well). The government counts on the existance of this black market to keep peace.

    4 - Going cashless solves nothing..!!! Your cashless bank account still lists an amount of pesos and if you want to convert them to dollars the normal restrictions apply. People taking advantage of bitcoin and other schemes are simply operating in the black market... it could be bitcoin, it could be bonds or stock.

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  4. Bitcoin? Nonsense by cachimaster · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Hi from Buenos Aires.

    No, the solution is not going cashless. We don't have a banking problem. We have a currency problem, because the government steals from us in the form of inflation. Going cashless is giving the government more power to screw us.

    Also we know very well how to play this game. If you can save, you buy other currencies like dollars. Or houses, if you are rich.
    If you need the money, you convert and spend as fast as possible. Inefficient and somewhat expensive, but possible.

    Bitcoin is easier to transfer, but too volatile. You might as well save in pesos.