Tim Draper wants to make Bitcoin the national currency of Argentina
Bitcoin luminary Tim Draper pleads for Bitcoin as a national currency in a personal meeting with Argentine President Mauricio Macri. The millionaire investor Draper enters uncharted territory with the daring idea of replacing the Argentine fiat currency with crypto.
Tim Draper, a risk investor and crypto-visionary, sat down at a meeting with Argentina's President Mauricio Macri on 20 March for the abolition of the National Currency Peso (ARS) in favor of Bitcoin (BTC). This is reported by the daily La Nación, which is published in Buenos Aires and is considered the leading medium in Argentina, on 22 March.
Tim Draper: Maximalist, visionary and activist
In the past, dazzling Bitcoin investor Draper made a name for itself with daring and successful bull forecasts. In 2014 he bought almost 30,000 Bitcoin and is now one of the richest Bitcoin owners. He was also early on involved in Bitcoin and Blockchain innovation in the public domain.
Draper often appealed to politics. So in 2017 he gave the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Advice on how to handle ICOs to prevent the regulator from stifling the innovation potential of ICOs with too many regulations.
Fiat currency Draper described as political, sedate, inefficient and expensive, which is why his venture in Argentina dared but not surprising.
Argentina as the first Bitcoin nation?
At a general meeting of the Draper Venture Network hosted by the Draper Cygnus fund, Draper now traveled to Argentina.
On Wednesday he met with President Macri. Argentina could make its way out of the economic crisis and the brain drain to an attractive location for companies. The key to this is the legalization of Bitcoin and even the complete abolition of the Argentine Peso (ARS) in favor of the cryptocurrency. After a FinTech and Blockchain summit in the Salon of the Minister of Production, Draper said:
💎 We're talking about Bitcoin and the devaluation of the peso, and so I suggest a bet: If the peso is worth more than the bitcoin, I'll double my investment in the country. If the Bitcoin is worth more than the peso, then it must be declared the national currency. That would be the perfect solution because there is no confidence in the (current) currency. 💎
What could be behind Draper's big mouth?
Argentina is one of the most crypto-friendly countries in the world. Both public institutions and the private sector benefit from the progressive development of a legal and technical infrastructure in the blockchain area. For Draper, the appointment of Bitcoin as a national currency is the perfect way for Argentina to turn its fragile economy into a haven for tech start-ups and investors with innovative legal requirements.
Whether Argentina follows Draper's radical proposal in the near future is doubtful. His appeal, however, may spark a debate over the usefulness and viability of fiat currencies in an economy increasingly turning to the blockchain economy.