Argentina’s Former President Macri Sees Ethereum As One Of The Most Innovative Technologies Of The 21st Century

Key Takeaways

• Argentina’s former president Mauricio Macri calls Ethereum “innovative” after meeting with Vitalik Buterin. 
• Argentina continues to embrace crypto amidst its currency and inflation troubles. 
• Ethereum continues on its innovation path into the new year.

Mauricio Macri, the former president of Argentina, revealed he had a meeting with the co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin. Describing the encounter in a tweet, the former president noted that Ethereum was “one of the most innovative decentralized technologies” in the 21st century. He also recognized the native currency of Ethereum, Ether, as one of the most valued in the world.

Macri added that much of their discussion was around the role that cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology could play for governments.

The two met during an event organized by The Graph in Buenos Aires to mark the protocol’s first anniversary since launching on mainnet.

“Fascinating encounter with Vitalik Buterin, creator of Ethereum, one of the most innovative decentralized technologies of our century. Its Ether currency is one of the best valued in the world. We chat about the role of crypto and blockchain opportunities for states.”

However, it appears the meeting was an unplanned one on the part of Buterin who arrived in Argentina as part of his vacation tour of Latin America. Despite his impromptu arrival at the event, the 27-year-old was instantly recognized by attendees.

Lorena Fabris, a member of the web 3 protocols foundation, described Buterin as the “Messi” of crypto and noted that his attendance had done a lot to boost the popularity of the Ethereum based protocol to the Argentine cryptocurrency community.

Argentina continues to embrace crypto

The visit of Vitalik Buterin to Argentina may not have been for only recreational purposes. Argentina is one of the nine countries with the highest adoption of cryptocurrencies, according to Chainalysis. The crypto community in the country has been expanding rapidly as Argentines look for a way to preserve the value of their money. Argentina has continued to struggle with rising inflation. According to Bloomberg, the inflation rate of the country rises around 50% annually. It is also struggling with recurring currency crises.

The South American country has plans to allow cryptocurrency futures trading on its regulated exchanges. At the moment, cryptocurrencies are legal in the country but still lack clearly defined regulations related to the issuance, exchange, and general use. The only regulations in place are those related to taxation and the prevention of illicit use. 

The innovations coming to Ethereum

Meanwhile, Ethereum continues to plan its next moves going into 2022. By current projections, Ethereum hopes to have been able to migrate to proof-of-stake (PoS) by the end of the second quarter of 2022. The network recently launched another upgrade, the Arrow Glacier, that pushes back the introduction of the difficulty bomb.

With PoS, Ethereum hopes to become more scalable, secure, and sustainable. Price predictions for Ether are also bullish for Ether when this happens as the network hopes to achieve deflationary issuance of the token which will cause a supply shock and also boost its valuation.