Argentina’s Bitcoin (BTC)-friendly Javier Milei won the countryโs presidential run-off election on Nov. 19, beating out his opponent Sergio Massa.
With almost 99% of the vote counted, Milei won over 55% of the votes with a nearly 3 million vote lead according to Bloomberg data.
Massa, the countryโs minister of economy, called Milei to congratulate him on the victory after more than 90% of the votes were counted โ before the announcement of the first official results. Milei will take office on December 10.
Argentina’s long-lasting inflation crisis has been a heated topic in the South American country, with the Argentine peso recording over a 140% increase in annual inflation in the last 12 months.
Milei has been vocal about his criticisms toward the countryโs central bank, referring to it as a scam and a โmechanism by which politicians cheat the good people with inflationary tax.โ
Heโs referred to Bitcoin as a movement toward โthe return of money to its original creator, the private sector.โ
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However, he has not signaled any intention to make Bitcoin legal tender in the country.
VIVA LA LIBERTAD CARAJO pic.twitter.com/WzzzZaTcsz
โ Javier Milei (@JMilei) November 19, 2023
Massaโs views on the money, banking and cryptocurrency industry appear to be polar opposite to Milei.
In October, he pledged to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) if elected to โsolveโ Argentinaโs long-lasting inflation crisis.
Massa won the first round of Argentinaโs presidential election in October. However, it wasnโt enough to win the presidency outright, triggering the final run-off vote.
Prior to that, Milei won Argentinaโs primary election against Messi and other candidates in August.
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