BREAKDOWN: Why the IMF Is Pressuring Argentina to Discourage Crypto
CoinDesk Podcast Network
CoinDesk
4.8 • 689 Ratings
🗓️ 21 March 2022
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
El Salvador’s “Volcano Bond” approaches as the IMF makes Argentina agree to discourage crypto.
This episode is sponsored by Nexo.io, Arculus and FTX US.
As many in geopolitics and economics try to understand how the world global order is shifting in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting sanctions (see The Bretton Woods III Thesis), one battleground is the International Monetary Fund versus new forms of debt financing. On today’s episodes, NLW looks at:
- Why El Salvador’s “Bitcoin Bond” is being delayed, and why it is being issued by a state-owned energy firm
- The IMF’s latest agreement with Argentina, and why it focuses on disincentivizing the use of crypto
- The Malaysian Communication Ministry’s suggestion the country makes BTC legal tender
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“The Breakdown” is written, produced by and features Nathaniel Whittemore aka NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell, research by Scott Hill and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsor is “I Don't Know How To Explain It” by Aaron Sprinkle. Image credit: btgbtg/Getty Images, modified by CoinDesk. Join the discussion at discord.gg/VrKRrfKCz8.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's also worth noting here that there are two very different interpretations of what's going on. |
| 0:04.6 | The first is that the IMF is concerned about money laundering and currency controls and fears that |
| 0:09.4 | crypto can help people get around things like this. |
| 0:12.0 | The second interpretation is that the IMF seeing crypto in places like Argentina as a do-it-yourself |
| 0:17.4 | recovery vehicle that competes directly with their loans. |
| 0:22.1 | Welcome back to The Breakdown with me, NLW. |
| 0:26.2 | It's a daily podcast on macro, Bitcoin, and the big-picture power shifts remaking our world. |
| 0:32.1 | The breakdown is sponsored by nexo.io, Arculus, and FTX, and produced and distributed by CoinDesk. |
| 0:39.7 | What's going on, guys? It is Monday, March 21st, and today we are talking about the growing |
| 0:46.7 | contest between new crypto-powered sovereign fundraising schemes and the traditional IMF-led order. |
| 0:56.8 | First, however, if you are enjoying the breakdown, please go subscribe to it wherever you listen |
| 1:01.4 | to podcasts, give it a rating, give it a review, or if you want to dig deeper into the |
| 1:06.1 | conversation, come join us on the Breakers Discord. You can find a link in the show notes or |
| 1:10.6 | go to bit.le. That's |
| 1:12.1 | L.Y slash breakdown pod. Also a disclosure as always in addition to them being a sponsor of the |
| 1:19.3 | breakdown. I also work with FTX. We are in a weird, liminal in-between moment. What do I mean by that? Well, on the Russia-Ukraine front, |
| 1:30.3 | we're now in the thick of the fighting. It's settled in that this isn't going away. |
| 1:35.2 | Markets are getting used to it on the face of it. However, the economic dislocations are just |
| 1:40.2 | starting. The early stuff is pretty apparent, right? The costs of gas, of course, in the U.S., |
| 1:45.9 | which is well publicized and much discussed. But it still feels closer to the beginning than the end. |
| 1:51.9 | We're still just starting to grok and grapple with things like fertilizer prices that are up |
| 1:57.8 | 111% year over year, and which will have much more significant second |
... |
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