The Central Bank of Argentina announced that it has accelerated its work on the legislation necessary to implement its central bank digital currency (CBDC) ‘digital peso’ workflow in the country.
During a public discussion on the Filo News channel on October 18, Argentina Central Bank director Juan Agustin D’Attellis Noguera disclosed that the BCRA is working on the legislative framework for the “digital peso,” a CBDC project recently proposed by Economy Minister and presidential candidate Sergio Massa.
The proposal will be presented “as soon as possible” and then introduced to the national Congress, according to D’Attellis.
The official praised Massa’s approach to CBDC and implicitly criticized the position of another presidential candidate, Bitcoin supporter Javier Milei, who has been publicly advocating for the “dollarization” of the Argentine economy.
It is not the first time that D’Attellis has defended the concept of CBDC. Beginning in October, he stated that he believed the “digital peso” could help stabilize the Argentine economy by 2024.
According to the official, the most crucial aspect of the CBDC is its traceability, which enables the government to collect taxes.
Massa pledged on October 2 to implement a digital peso to address Argentina’s persistent inflation problem, should he win the election.
According to the most recent election polls, Massa trails Javier Milei, who advocates for adopting the U.S. dollar as Argentina’s official currency and opposes the function of the central bank by a small margin.