Argentina’s Largest Private Bank, Founded Over a Century Ago, Now Offers Clients Exposure to Cryptocurrency
Banco Galicia bank in Buenos Aires, which was founded in 1905, now allows its customers to trade Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), XRP and the stablecoin USD Coin (USDC), according to a Tweeter posted earlier this Monday.
It partnered with Lirium AG, a company offering plug & play crypto solutions for banking hunches, to enable the new service.
Banco Galicia serves more than four million individual and corporate customers. It has about 600 branches worldwide.
Argentina has been one of the top countries in terms of cryptocurrency adoption due to its high inflation. According to data provided by Deel, it has more employees paid in digital assets than any other country in the world. The number of businesses enabling their employees to receive payments in crypto has soared more than 340% in just one year, with small businesses being the main driver of growing adoption.
Buenos Aires should also make it possible to pay taxes with cryptocurrencies.
Still, Miguel Pesce, the head of Argentina’s central bank, said cryptocurrencies were of concern. He argued that digital assets were used to circumvent exchange controls.
Earlier this year, Argentina’s central bank reportedly started working on creating a group that will improve know-your-customer (KYC) rules for digital wallets.
Additionally, the recent $45 billion bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) could be a major barrier to cryptocurrency adoption in Argentina, as it will force the government to adopt an anti-crypto stance. .