On Tuesday, April 4th, Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, announced that its users in Argentina will be able to convert the local currency directly into crypto assets. The move marks Binance’s latest expansion of its offering in South America—a continent that has so far proven very receptive to cryptocurrencies.
Binance Announces It Is Now Accepting Argentinian Pesos
This Tuesday, Binance’s Argentinian branch announced that users in the country will be able to directly convert the local currency—pesos—into cryptocurrencies on the platform. According to the release, the service will be offered through a local partner of the company, and Maximiliano Hinz, director of Binance for Latam Cono Sur, expressed his excitement with the development calling it a continuation of the exchange’s client-focused approach:
We are excited about this launch. At Binance, the focus is always on our clients, and we are committed to providing them with the smoothest, most secure and optimized experience. We understand the peculiarities of each country in the region. This new service will allow us to continue working for financial inclusion.
Despite being both the target of regulatory pressure in the US, and worrying rumors online, Binance has continued its efforts to expand its global operations. Together with several developments in Latin America, the exchange has, by acquiring Sakura and Gopax, reentered the Japanese and South Korean markets respectively after many years of absence.
For its part, Argentina has been rather receptive to digital assets as a country. This is, at least to an extent, due to the incredibly high inflation rate of over 102% making digital assets increasingly appealing despite their relative volatility. Local authorities have also proven crypto-friendly, and Argentina’s Mendoza province started allowing residents to pay their taxes in digital currencies already last summer.
The Thriving Crypto Ecosystem in South America
While the digital assets-related news coming from much of the world has been mixed, or even negative, South America in general appears to be weaving a different story. The trend is perhaps best exemplified by El Salvador’s decision to not only make Bitcoin legal tender in the country but also to double down on the strategy by continuing to buy the cryptocurrency even through the worst of the “crypto winter”.
Major cryptocurrency companies have, over the years, continued showing their keenness to work on the continent. Brazil in particular has been finding itself in the news and it saw, in 2023 alone, the arrival of a crypto debit card issued by Binance and Mastercard, and the integration of its central bank’s Pix payments system with Coinbase.
Local digital assets firms have also found a great deal of success despite the pressure the cryptocurrency industry has been under since the start of 2022. Mere months after launching the service, a Buffett-backed Brazilian neobank Numbank announced it had already attracted nearly 2 million users to digital assets. Additionally, last November, a large Argentinian cryptocurrency exchange called Ripio revealed it has brought its service to the US.
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About the author
Tim Fries is the cofounder of The Tokenist. He has a B. Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Tim served as a Senior Associate on the investment team at RW Baird’s US Private Equity division, and is also the co-founder of Protective Technologies Capital, an investment firm specializing in sensing, protection and control solutions.
