Rise of Argentina’s Bukele? Leading Presidential Candidate Preaches Bitcoin

Posted on January 4, 2023
News
By Mark Otto
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The South American country of Argentina will elect a new president in October 2023, and there is a real chance that a pro-Bitcoin candidate will be elected as the new head of state. The candidate in question is Javier Gerardo Milei, who is currently a federal deputy from Buenos Aires and has been compared by […][...]

Milei, who is currently running for Argentina’s 2023 presidential election, can be classified as a die-hard Bitcoiner who preaches the Austrian school of economic thought and calls himself an “anarcho-capitalist.” In previous interviews, he said he wants to “kick the ass of Keynesians and collectivists” and is raffling off his monthly salary to counter a government that he believes is “stealing” from ordinary Argentine citizens.

Bitcoin Is The Answer To Central Banks

In a recent interview, Milei was asked if he believes it is possible to discuss Bitcoin as a means of payment in Argentina. And the presidential candidate delivered an answer that could have made Satoshi Nakamoto proud. Milei said that the core problem which people must first understand is that “the Central Bank is a scam. It is a mechanism by which politicians cheat the good people with the inflationary tax.”

Milei went on to say Bitcoin is “representing the return of money to its original creator: the private sector. Money is a private invention.” According to the Argentine politician, legal tenders are the key “to the politician to scam you with the inflationary tax. Bitcoin has an algorithm that one day it will reach a certain amount and there is no more and it can compete with other currencies.”

Milei reinforced his point and went on to say that the problem is that governments and central banks do not want to give up legal tender because they “can scam [the people] with inflationary tax,” and concluded:

Bitcoin is the natural reaction against the Central Bank scammers and to make money private again. […] In economies with high inflation, the scam problem is bigger. That’s why, as I suggest, you can propose to close the Central Bank.

How Likely Is The Rise Of Argentina’s Bukele?

Milei is likely to lead the La Libertad Avanza coalition and has the support of 24% of respondents, according to an October 2022 poll by AmericaElects.

Remarkably, the poll was done before one of Milei’s biggest political rivals, current Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, withdrew her candidacy. A court sentenced her in December to six years in prison for corruption, which also bars her from future political office. With her departure, Milei’s relative lead could likely grow.

But as the coalitions have not officially announced their candidates, the outlines of Argentina’s election are unclear at the moment. Bitcoin supporters, however, can hope for a promising candidate who could possibly follow the example of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele.

At press time, Bitcoin traded at $16,844, seeing a slight uptick of 0,85% in the last 24 hours.