Market Analysis Report (04 Jul 2022)

Argentines have turned to stablecoins following the resignation of economy minister, Martin Guzmán, amid an ongoing economic crisis. They are reportedly purchasing between two and three times as many stablecoins as they would on a typical weekend.

Three major cryptocurrency exchanges have said that consumers were looking to hedge against a potential devaluation of the country’s fiat currency, the Argentine peso, which has seen its buying power plummet over the past year amid skyrocketing inflation.

Guzmán’s resignation saw the peso depreciate around 15% against the stablecoins DAI and USDT on several leading cryptocurrency trading platforms. The CEO of Argentina-based crypto exchange Ripio, Sebastian Serrano, was quoted saying that whenever there’s a similar story in the country, crypto “is the first market where Argentina starts to look for a price for the U.S. dollar.”

Argentine exchange Buenbit recorded a 300% rise in trading volume on Sunday, compared to the same day in previous weeks. Due to a lack of price references for the U.S. dollar during the weekend, most Argentine exchanges increased spreads between bid and ask prices to 18%.