The first round of debate starring the presidential candidates remains latent on the communication agenda due to the promises of each competitor. The Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, advanced there the path of the Argentine Digital Currency (MDA) implemented through a national virtual wallet, which contributes to the reduction of taxes and the informal economy.
Hours later he gave more details of the proposal: “We propose a digital currency, a wallet with your ID and money laundering, so that when using the wallet you pay less taxes. It is a 30% tax reduction if you make all your income work and work in your wallet,” the minister highlighted. In addition, he explained that “a multi-monetary mechanism can be put together to strengthen reserves with yuan, reais and dollars, and consolidate our commercial relationship with Brazil and China.” The initiative will be materialized through a bill.
According to the director of the Central Bank and author of the project, Agustín D’Attellis, the tax reduction would come hand in hand with the extension of the formal economy. “The tax base will be expanded due to the decline in informality,” he commented in dialogue with Ámbito. In that sense, he maintained that the tool would serve to “go towards fiscal balance without making an adjustment.” In turn, the initiative would reduce national and provincial taxes, operating commissions on platforms and facilitate P2P, or “Peer to Peer” operations, that is, transfers between two users without intermediaries.
In addition to the fiscal leg and the formalization of the economy, the Government assures that its main value would be to facilitate digital operations and generate autonomy for users and companies through financial simplification, since transactions would be easy to use and access. , and would include non-digitized and non-banked sectors.
To this end, they would work together with fintech companies, commercial banks and clearinghouses under the supervision and regulation of the BCRA. Thus, as the director of the BCRA explains, a system would be implemented in conjunction with the National Communications Entity and that applies to virtual wallets, with operators such as Mercado Pago and MODO, but also through home banking, automatic transfers and use of the QR code. .
The implementation of the MDA would be applied in two stages. The first would be linked to the reinforcement of the existing financial ecosystem, and the second to the design of the infrastructure required and supported by the BCRA so that the entity can issue the digital currency. Only in this last instance could the possibility of eliminating the physical ticket be analyzed. In principle, the idea supports the coexistence between the MDA and the traditional one, and then go to a process of convergence.
The method applied for the digitization of the currency would be blockchain technology, the same one that supports the security and operation of cryptocurrencies.
However, on this point, doubts persist as to whether digital currency can contribute to illicit operations linked to drug or arms trafficking, as proposed by detractors of cryptocurrencies, or if this means can be useful for the purposes of reducing inflation. For Guido Zatloukal, president of the Argentine Blockchain Foundation, “if we understand what blockchain technology is like, where all its movements are traced and left in a record, the option of using them for illicit businesses is ruled out.”
Regarding the link with inflation, there is no direct correlation between the digital currency and the drop in prices, but for Zatloukal “norms applied to monetary issuance could be established through smart contracts, which determine clear and predetermined parameters, agreed upon in the public and private spheres.”
Currently, there are more than one hundred projects around the world with similar initiatives.
Source: Ambito
