Argentina considers a law on salaries in cryptocurrency

Today, we are witnessing the expansion of cryptocurrency’s global privileges. For example, a member of the Argentine House of Representatives Jose Luis Ramon announced the introduction of a bill allowing employees to be paid in cryptocurrency (either partially or in whole). According to the deputy, today cryptocurrency provides employees with a wide range of advantages and tackles several issues at once, including the “strengthening of the workers’ autonomy” along with “sustaining the purchasing power” of their assets. Thus, all employees will be free to choose between the standard salary format and the cryptocurrency one. In such an event, it is the employer who will bear all the costs related to the transfer of cryptocurrency to an employee. The impetus for the bill’s elaboration was largely due to the country's participation in the Global Forum on the Knowledge Economy several years ago.

Such a cryptocurrency bill is not the first cryptocurrency initiative of its kind; for instance, among Latin American countries, El Salvador has already authorized bitcoin as legal tender. Starting from September 7, 2021, it will be recognized as the republic’s official currency. Besides, this is not the first cryptocurrency bill submitted to the Argentinean National Assembly - a law on the regulation of cryptocurrency has already been proposed and sent to Argentina Parliament’s financial committees, but eventually was not put to a vote.

The example of El Salvador, ultimately picked up by Argentina, indicates the certain tendency for transition to cryptocurrencies that affected neighboring Latin American countries - Paraguay and Panama as well. The Director of Ripio (one of the leading fintech companies in Argentina), Juan Jose Mendes, highlighted the rapid growth of users' interest in digital assets including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Stablecoin over the past year and a half, thanking the pandemic: “Today, in Argentina, we have over 1 million users of cryptocurrency, while at the beginning of 2020 there were only 400 thousands, and this figure is increasing day by day."

The definite trend towards the implementation and expansion of crypto platforms we observe today also implies enhanced user credibility. In today's unstable market conditions, this is going to be one of the real opportunities to preserve income and build up savings.