Cryptocurrency Trading and Investing in Argentina

The most important things to know about Bitcoin trading and investing in Argentina

After the most famous cryptocurrency shot up to US$20,000 in mid-December last in 2017, the world paid more attention to bitcoin.

While the collapse was grotesque, worth some US$10,000 today, this virtual currency, which has no control over any government, is still in the crosshairs.

An article published by Cronista states that "the best-known crypto moneda had started 2017 barely scratching the US$ 1,000 and catapulted to US$ 20,000 by mid-December, which implied, in particular, a gain of 1,950%".

The eyes of the world were on this new market player, because of the eccentricity but, clearly, because of the exorbitant performance.

Bitcoin Trading in Argentina

In fact, Argentina is no exception. Buenos Aires is one of the cities with the most activity in cryptocurrencies, being even one of the top 10 in the world.

And the appetite remains firm, although bitcoin has extreme volatility (today around $10,000), is not regulated, is intangible and, if that were not enough, is very complex to explain.

Broadly speaking, it is a virtual currency that was born to be used as a means of quick, cheap and uncontrolled payment, which today can be "mined" by anyone (although it's only economic for bigger mining companies), operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and has a fixed limit of 21 million coins, which will be reached in 2030.

As for security, the way it works is what guarantees its safety. The blockchain (or chain of blocks) distributed all over the world, in thousands of servers, is what makes it inviolable.

In Argentina it is allowed to own or trade cryptocurrencies. So anyone can participate in this exciting new technology by investing in some BTC or even only microBTC, since each Bitcoin is divided in 100.000.000 subunit called Satoshis. So it is no problem to only invest a few Dollars in Bitcoin which will equal a certain amount of Satoshis.

People who don't want to invest can also just trade the price volatility by betting on price changes in a certain period of time. Let's have a look at those possibilities and where they can be performed:

Different Bitcoin Broker Types in Argentina

Although Bitcoin's mechanism can be very complex, as an investment it is not. In Argentina you can invest in Bitcoin in Pesos or US Dollars, at local or international prices, and through various online platforms. Registration on such platforms is usually quite similar.

To get started, the trader / investor must register with an email and a password on a broker platform that offers Bitcoin trading (it is important to know if it trades cryptocurrencies or their derivatives).

Bitcoin (/Cryptocurrency) Exchanges

There are generally 2 types of Bitcoin brokers available in Argentina. One the one hand there are exchanges where investors can buy Bitcoin or altcoins for fiat money, either local currency or USD. Those are the exchanges where you actually buy cryptocurrencies. Such platforms where investors actually buy Bitcoin or altcoins are:

• Binance
• Coinbase
• Crex24
• Yobit
• Bitfinex
• CoinMama
• Localbitcoins

and others.

Bitcoin (/Cryptocurrency) Trading Brokers

And on the other hand there are professional trading platforms (we call brokers), where Bitcoin (or altcoins) can be traded against the US Dollar in long or short trades. In this case traders don't buy the cryptocurrency but trade price differences (Contracts for Difference, the so called CFDs).

Among those CFD brokers there are some allowing fiat money deposits. In that case ID verification is mandatory in order to be allowed to trade on those platforms.

There it is necessary to provide personal data, such as name, surname, country of residence, date of birth, and to corroborate the identity with a photograph of an ID document and to confirm the address with a utility bill or other proof of residence. Then users can provide bank account details in their trading account, which is where the money will be sent from to buy Bitcoin and where the money will be credited after a sale.

Such CFD brokers allowing fiat money are:

• ThinkMarkets
• Plus500

Then there is this group of brokers which don't allow fiat money deposits or withdrawals. At such trading sites users can only deposit and withdraw Bitcoin (BTC).

That type of Bitcoin brokers allow trading without ID verification. Usually traders only need to provide an email, password and select their country of residence at signup.

Such brokers allowing BTC deposits only are:

• BitMEX
• PrimeXBT

However, there are also Bitcoin CFD brokers that only allow BTC payments but with mandatory ID verification. Those are:

• Monfex
• Overbit

So there is a great variety of different features and specializations of Bitcoin trading sites.

Bitcoin Margin Trading in Argentina

All the CFD brokers mentioned above are so-called margin brokers. They allow trading with leverage. The highest leverage available is offered by BitMEX and PrimeXBT with a ratio of 100:1 followed by Monfex and Overbit by a maximum of still 50:1 leverage. A list of the exact leverages of all Bitcoin margin brokers can be found in our margin broker comparison. All brokers listed on this page allow Argentinian traders.

Taxes on Cryptocurrency Trading in Argentina

In Argentina, as in most other countries, assets and income from the sale of cryptocurrencies must be declared for tax purposes. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are therefore currently taxed as follows:

Transactions in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies must be declared as income in the income tax return. They are taxed at a rate of 15%. It does not matter whether the income comes from Argentine or foreign sources. Cryptocurrencies are equated with shares and bonds for tax purposes. Although there is a striking difference between stocks and cryptocurrencies, which is not considered in that case: Shares and bonds represent a liability in favour of the holder, which is not the case with cryptocurrencies.