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Topic: [2015-04-29] New York Times - How Bitcoin is Disrupting Argentina's Economy (Read 1150 times)

legendary
Activity: 1022
Merit: 1000
This is an excellent article. Really loved reading it.
The author makes the point that Bitcoin is too small for the government to be bothered about it. That can change very quickly as Bitcoin adoption increases in Argentina.

Hopefully by then it will be too big to stop!

I realize that writers don't write their headlines, but I really do think that this article was titled poorly.  It's basically how bitcoin is liberating argentines.
legendary
Activity: 1232
Merit: 1000
This is an excellent article. Really loved reading it.
The author makes the point that Bitcoin is too small for the government to be bothered about it. That can change very quickly as Bitcoin adoption increases in Argentina.
hero member
Activity: 602
Merit: 500
This sounds straight out of a movie script, but the reality is this is how easily bitcoin currency can be moved from one country to the other,with no remittance fees,service charges,taxes,law; and the end of the day a modest profit, with existence of  Bitpay in buenos aires,financial institutions in Argentina are adopting and setting the bar for a new revolution in banks
sr. member
Activity: 248
Merit: 250
That has to be about the best mainstream article ever about BTC !
sr. member
Activity: 252
Merit: 250
he's just a handful of people who managed to see the opportunities of Bitcoin.
hero member
Activity: 700
Merit: 500
Sounds like this dude works his balls off all the while staying one step ahead of would-be thieves.

You have to give these type of traders props for their mobility to avoid getting robbed, it does sound like a tough job moving around to do trades everyday.

On the other hand at least hes a step ahead of anyone trying to track him, that said it is interesting that his daughter and his son help him with the job but I guess the average salary of an individual in Argentina and the return must make this extra effort worthwhile compared to other jobs as the article mentioned.

Commerce of this sort has proved useful enough to Argentines that Castiglione has made a living buying and selling Bitcoin for the last year and a half. “We are trying to give a service,” he said.

It does show how strict capital controls lead people to avoid them in anyway possible, a loss for the taxation system but in that sense one that proves that if you set your take to high people will make an industry out of it, the underground economy at its finest.

"Had the German client instead sent euros to a bank in Argentina, the musician would have been required to fill out a form to receive payment and, as a result of the country’s currency controls, sacrificed roughly 30 percent of his earnings to change his euros into pesos."

That said I wonder if Bitpay has a Sting Operation from the Argentina government coming, reading the article it seems like this is a big siren in their faces to get them.

The last client to visit the office that Friday was ___ _____ a stout 37-year-old in a neatly cut suit who heads the Argentine offices of the American Bitcoin company BitPay, whose technology enables merchants to accept Bitcoin payments. Like other BitPay employees — there is a staff of six in Buenos Aires — ____ receives his entire salary in Bitcoin and lives outside the traditional financial system. He orders what he can from websites that accept Bitcoin and goes to Castiglione when he needs cash.
legendary
Activity: 1568
Merit: 1001
Sounds like this dude works his balls off all the while staying one step ahead of would-be thieves.
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