With just about a week to go until Argentina's newly elected libertarian Javier Milei gets officially sworn in, he is sticking to his campaign promise to shut down the country's central bank. Could this kick off a new trend where countries experiencing high inflation start to question the merits of a central bank and act accordingly? Cory Klippsten, CEO of Swan Bitcoin, weighs in.
Argentina is undergoing its fifth hyperinflation since 1975, with inflation currently running at 143% annually.
After getting elected on November 19 with over 56% of the vote, Milei confirmed his plan to shut down Argentina's Central Bank, stating that this goal is "non-negotiable." This came after reports that he wouldn’t follow through on that campaign promise following the exit of several key advisors from his transition team who objected to the policy.
Milei campaigned on three major election promises – closing Argentina's central bank, replacing the nation's currency with the U.S. dollar, and slashing spending and taxes. To top things off, he is also decidedly pro-Bitcoin.
During his campaign, Milei referred to central banks as a scam and described Bitcoin as a natural reaction to that scam.
"We have to understand that the central bank is a scam," Milei said in an interview with local media. "It is a mechanism by which politicians cheat the good people with the inflation tax. What Bitcoin represents is the return of money to its original creator - the private sector. Money is a private invention. Bitcoin is a natural reaction to central bank scamming and making money private again."
In an interview with Michelle Makori, Lead Anchor and Editor-in-Chief at Kitco News, Klippsten pointed out that Argentina's election could shift global attitudes regarding central banks and Bitcoin.
"This is a much bigger deal on the global stage than what happened in El Salvador," Klippsten noted. "This really launches this idea of central banking being a scam, as Milei said."
Klippsten added that people don't pay enough attention to what is going on with money printing and the effect central banks have on inflation.
"It's fascinating to have someone that is this fluent in Austrian economics and understands the root of much of what's wrong in today's global system. And in particular, in local systems with weak local fiat currencies that are used as tools of tyranny, profligacy, and cronyism," Klippsten said. "Milei wants to uproot that in his own country, and it may be quite the example for many other countries worldwide."
Aside from more people questioning central banks, Milei's influence could also impact the Bitcoin ecosystem.
"It also is a half step toward Bitcoin, which is where many of these countries will end up as the century advances. In the next two or three decades, you'll see a lot of countries full-on Bitcoinize," Klippsten predicted, drawing parallels to the adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador.
How likely is it for Argentina to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, and what it will mean for the world's largest cryptocurrency, watch the video above.
In another development, Argentina said it would not accept the invitation to join the BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – alliance come January 1.
"We won't go into the BRICS," Diana Mondino, Milei's pick for foreign affairs minister, posted on X Thursday. "If the BRICS are already our primary trading partners, what's the difference?" Mondino told local media at another event this week.
Argentina was one of the six countries invited to join the BRICS following the group's annual summit held in August. The other five countries invited included Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates.
To get Klippsten thoughts on why Argentina is not interested in joining the BRICS and the new geopolitical complications this introduces, watch the video above.
Over the coming decades, Klippsten sees countries adopting Bitcoin as a medium of exchange and a store of value.
"The Bitcoin network is still relatively very small — around $750 billion. We'll see $20 trillion by the decade's end and much more as the century rolls on. And then it will be the currency used by most of these countries that otherwise can't agree on how to define their currency, how to create it or how to back it," he said.
Klippsten describes Bitcoin as the sixth technological revolution. For what it means and how it impacts other major fields, including monetary policy and finance, watch the video above.
Klippsten also shared his bitcoin price forecasts, for details watch the video above.
