Cryptocurrencies made headlines in Argentina's digital economy today

The digital economy has achieved a high level of interest from the common citizen in recent years, producing an exponential curve during 2020, due to the negative effects on the economy due to the Covid 19 pandemic.

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Latin America and in this case Argentina were no exception, whose increase in investments in the digital market was quite notorious.

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A few days before the beginning of 2021, we find controversially encouraging information about cryptocurrencies.

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On the one hand an alliance between one of the well-known trading platforms in Argentina, PrimeXBT, and Athena Bitcoin, the latter a North American company whose main line is a network of crypto ATMs that has expanded in Latin America in countries such as Mexico, Colombia, and now in Argentina.

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On the other hand, today they announced the imposition of a tax on cryptocurrency transactions.

Last Saturday January 30th in the city of La Plata in the first crypto space called Espacio Weiaut, one of the partners of PrimeXBT, where representatives of both organizations were present.

The statements issued by Efrain Barraza Manager of Athena Bitcoin Argentina showed his joy for the alliance and the step that is being taken with the launch of five (5) crypto space ATMs, four (4) in Buenos Aires and one (1) in the city of La Plata.

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The launch of these crypto space ATMs facilitates, among other operations, the purchase and sale of cryptocurrency in Argentinean pesos and the settlement of the profits generated in local currency.

The news published today in La Nación, that the Province of Cordova in Argentina will make a modification in the Tax Code to punish with the Gross Income tax to activities related to cryptocurrency services.

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This tax is the first one at a provincial level in the Republic of Argentina, as well as at national level with the Income Tax Law in 2017.

It is intended to penalize the activities of buying and selling cryptocurrency exchanges carried out in the province with a general tax rate of 4.75%, as well as in the case of the purchase of goods or services received, a special tax rate of 0.25% would be applied.

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However, there are still some doubts and a lack of specific instructions on the application of such tax, scope, among others.

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Finally, it is clear that the boom in Bitcoin over the last two years has catapulted interest in the currency and its investment as a safe savings option.

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In conclusion, we are faced with two controversial scenarios that show, on the one hand, how work is being done to open the doors to payments with cryptocurrencies and other operations in the digital market; and on the other hand, how the outlook is not very encouraging with the proposed tax measures, where uncertainty reigns in their application, as well as the absence of regulations on the matter.