Argentine province to accept tax payments in stablecoins

Argentina is facing one of the highest levels of inflation and the country is looking to crypto as a safe haven. On Monday, the provincial government of Mendoza announced that it will accept tax payments from residents in DAI and USDT stablecoins.

According to the Mendoza Tax Administration (ATM) website, in an effort to move towards “modernization and innovation”, the province is providing its 1.7 million population with more online payment options.

Residents will now be able to pay taxes with Tether’s USDT and MakerDAO’s DAI stablecoin using their Binance, ByBit, Ripio, Bitso, or Lemon wallets. The tax administration’s website will provide a QR code that users can scan to receive a wallet address to make payments to. ATM will then convert the stablecoins into Argentine pesos to process the payments and then send payers with a receipt of the transaction.

Argentina is ranked among the top ten countries in terms of crypto adoption. Due to inflation, citizens are facing difficulties in their daily lives, and as the price of commodities skyrockets, people are converting their pesos into U.S dollars and cryptocurrencies.

Fears of capital loss have alerted the country into taking strict measures to regulate cryptocurrencies. Earlier this year, the federal government added crypto to its anti-money laundering regulatory regime, which required crypto exchanges and firms to report all user information to the government. Last month, Argentina’s central bank announced that crypto holders will not be able to convert their assets into dollars on free-market exchanges.

Recently, crypto-exchange Binance launched a crypto-debit card in the country that allowed users to convert their crypto into U.S dollars or pesos to purchase items or to withdraw cash at ATMs.

As the country is taking steps to regulate the industry, crypto firms and provincial governments are looking to help citizens fight inflation through crypto.