04 Aug 2014 / Leap Rate – A distinct dichotomy has emerged among Bitcoin proponents, one which appears to place the pioneers of what has, for the first time ever, emerged as a potential alternative to sovereign currency.
This dichotomy places virtual currency proponents in two camps, one being the media-savvy maverick pioneers wishing to demonstrate fiscal anarchy and garner some degree of celebrity, and the other being the shrewd, long-term, technologically advanced corporation which sees benefit in backing the development of virtual currency with full support of some of the world’s most respected regulatory authorities.
With these two well-defined sets of characteristics surrounding Bitcoin, regional location has a bearing. Argentina’s year-long thirst for Bitcoin is a particular case in point.
The South American nation has taken such a shine to virtual currency that last year’s values were between 30% and 40% higher than in neighboring Uruguay, and several well-attended Bitcoin meetups took place at upscale venues in Buenos Aires, the most recent having been conducted by Dr Hugo Scolnik, a world renowned professor of mathematics, and Mauricio Taslik, an expert in cryptography and identification technologies.
Argentina’s Bitcoin enthusiasts grew in significant numbers last year, leading to BTC Global presenting at several events, and the μMeetUp scene being established at Bar Duarte, in the affluent Palermo district of the nation’s capital.
Today, a year on from Argentina’s president Cristina Kirschner having imposed her latest ruling to abolish dollars and strengthen the capital control rules on local peso even further, it is becoming increasingly likely that Argentina is poised to be the first nation to adopt Bitcoin on a national level, in order to circumvent the damaging effect on their financial freedom that the outlawing of dollars and introduction of the worthless Cedin pseudo-currency last year may well have.
According to the Bitcoin Market Opportunity Index (BMOI), which measures inflation rates, financial history and technology penetration to decipher where Bitcoin is best positioned to replace sovereign currency altogether, Argentina ranked as the most likely jurisdiction for this to occur, emerging ahead of 177 other nations which were ranked…… Read more
