The “Pay Me In Bitcoin” movement just got a lot stronger today when José Luis Ramón, a member of Argentina’s National Congress, announced he submitted a bill that would allow workers in a dependency relationship and exporters of services to have the option of receiving their full or partial salary in bitcoin.
The impactful message in this announcement is what he said in the last sentence: “The idea is that they can strengthen their autonomy and conserve the purchasing power of their remuneration.” The citizens of Argentina have been dealing with insane amounts of hyperinflation in the Argentine peso, resulting in them being unable to save their wealth. Looking at the core inflation rate for the Argentine peso, they are in dire need of Bitcoin.
Ramón went on to state: “This initiative stems from the need to promote greater autonomy and governance of wages, without this implying a loss of rights or exposure to situations of abuse within the framework of the employment relationship.”
Argentina seems to be following in the footsteps of El Salvador, who made Bitcoin legal tender recently. And this plays into the recent theme of congressmen in South American countries pushing for adoption of Bitcoin.
Central banks and the fiat system have really hurt these countries via hyperinflation and excluded most of their citizens from having good financial infrastructure. Bitcoin’s 21 million hard cap supply saves them from suffering any more wealth evaporation and allows them to be their own bank.
According to Acuant, only 48.7% of the Argentine population has a bank account. Yet 78% have internet access. More people than ever before in Argentina will be able to get paid in, store their wealth in, and spend their money in Bitcoin, thus improving their quality of life. Beautiful.