The Two Largest Banks in Argentina Offer Crypto Trading

GB Market Commentary 03/05/2022

by Marcus Sotiriou

Despite many people still fearful of Bitcoin due to its volatility, data from @ecoinometrics shows how Bitcoin’s volatility is actually less than many tech stocks, including Apple and Facebook. It is clear that every halving leads to less volatility as the asset matures and is adopted more.

It has been confirmed in Argentina that their two largest private banks, Banco Galicia and Brubank, have launched Bitcoin and crypto trading on their platform. This followed an Argentinian poll where 60% of respondents asked for more access to crypto. This may not come as a surprise to some as Argentina has the 6th largest crypto adoption rate in the world, according to data and survey firm Statista, who estimate that 21% of Argentines used or owned crypto by 2021.

Banco Galicia’s online interface shows that it has begun supporting Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), USD Coin (USDC), and Ripple (XRP) purchases. The fact they have included XRP is interesting as it suggests significant confidence in Ripple winning the lawsuit with the SEC who have deemed XRP a security.

At the Crypto Bahamas conference, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse confirmed "Ripple has partnered with several Central Banks around the World, some we've announced, some we haven't yet announced". As the XRPL is the cheapest and easiest solution for cross-border payments, I am confident that many CBDCs and the like will be built on XRPL sidechains. Data from Kiffmeister shows that the jurisdictions where retail CBDCs are being explored is accelerating dramatically. I think CBDCs will be a major growth catalyst for XRP over the coming years as CBDCs gain more traction.