Banco Galicia, Argentina’s largest private bank, and Brubank, a fully digital bank, are now allowing their customers to buy and sell crypto-currencies. These opportunities are being offered in part to combat the country’s growing inflation, and are set to spread to neighbouring regions.
Argentina’s banks are moving into cryptocurrencies
Argentina has never hidden its interest in crypto-currencies, as President Alberto Fernández confirmed last August, arguing that it was a considerable shield against currency inflation and that an adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) was not out of the question.
In any case, two major banks in Argentina have decided to take the plunge and are now allowing their customers to buy and sell crypto-currencies, including Bitcoin, Ether (ETH) or the stablecoin USDC, a crypto-currency backed by the dollar to limit its volatility.
One of them, Banco Galicia, is Argentina’s largest private bank in terms of market value. According to the bank, more than 60% of customers surveyed said they wanted access to cryptocurrencies through their bank.
This is hardly surprising, however, given the appetite of Argentines for crypto-currencies. Indeed, according to a Chainalysis report for the year 2021, Argentina is the tenth country with the highest adoption of these digital assets.
This interest in crypto-currencies is largely understandable, as Argentina has been suffering from major inflation for a long time, the latter being exacerbated by the war in Ukraine and rising tariffs in the energy and food markets. The country’s inflation reached 6.7% in March, its highest rate in two decades.
Buy and sell cryptocurrencies with a click
The second bank to offer these services is Brubank, a fully digital bank that was launched in 2017. For both Brubank and Banco Galicia, customers will be able to buy cryptocurrencies as easily as they can already trade bonds or stocks.
¡Si ya tenemos cripto!
Es una funcionalidad que se está habilitando progresivamente para todos nuestros usuarios. Cuando lo tengas habilitado lo vas a poder visualizar ingresando en “Inversiones” desde la app.– Brubank (@brubankarg) May 2, 2022
“Yes, we already have the crypto! This is a feature that is gradually being activated for all our users. Once you have activated it, you will be able to see it by going to “Investments” from the app. “
The addition of these new options has, in both cases, been made possible through a partnership with Lirium, a Liechtenstein-based company that specialises in building infrastructure to enable banking institutions to offer cryptocurrencies.
According to Martin Kopacz, Lirium’s COO, the company is already working with four other Argentinean financial institutions to implement similar services, although no dates have been given. In addition, such integrations are also planned in Brazil and Mexico, he said.
According to Brubank’s press office, the adoption of cryptocurrencies by institutional banks will quickly spread to the regions surrounding Argentina, which is itself, it should be remembered, not far from El Salvador, where Bitcoin already operates as a legal currency.
