Argentine Bitcoin (BTCOpposition-friendly Javier Milei won the presidential runoff election on November 19, defeating his opponent Sergio Massa.
With almost 99% of the votes counted, Milei won more than 55% of the votes with a lead of almost 3 million according to Bloomberg. data.
Massa, the country’s economy minister, called Milei to congratulate him on his victory after more than 90% of the votes were counted, before the first official results were announced. Milei will take office on December 10.
Argentina’s long-running inflationary crisis has been a hot topic in the South American country, with the Argentine peso losing ground for over a year. 140% increase in annual inflation over the past 12 months.
Milei voiced his criticism of the country’s central bank, calling it a scam and a “mechanism by which politicians cheat good people with inflationary taxes.”
He describes Bitcoin as a movement toward “returning money to its original creator, the private sector.”
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However, it has not signaled any intention to make Bitcoin legal tender in the country.
VIVA LA LIBERTAD CARAJO pic.twitter.com/WzzzZaTcsz
– Javier Milei (@JMilei) November 19, 2023
Massa’s views on the money, banking and cryptocurrency industry appear to be the same. polar opposite to Milei.
In October, he pledged to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) if elected to “solve” Argentina’s long-running inflationary crisis.
Massa won the first round of the Argentine presidential election in October. However, this was not enough to win the presidency, triggering the runoff election.
Before that, Milei won the primary elections in Argentina against Messi and other candidates in August.
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