The expansion of cryptocurrencies among young Argentines. Finding a way through finance in contemporary Argentina

MARIANA LUZZI; MARÍA SOLEDAD SÁNCHEZ

Congreso; Congreso Anual de SASE; 2023

SASE

In the last years, the Argentine economy was marked by the recovery of economic activity afterthe pandemic, but also by the highest inflation rates in the last 30 years (reaching almost 100% per year in 2022; INDEC, 2023) and the enforcement of strong foreign exchange market regulations to restrain the demand for dollars - one of the most popular savings instruments among Argentines (Luzzi and Wilkis, 2019).In that complex economic context, investment practices through digital financial platforms havehad significant growth among the large public since 2020. While consumer-ready financial platforms became increasingly popular thanks to their rapid expansion via smartphones, amateur investors (Harrington, 2008) massively entered the financial market. In a country where dollar, fixed-term deposits, and real estate investments were the most widespread savings and investment instruments among the middle and lower-middle classes for many decades (Luzzi, 2010; Luzzi y Wilkis, 2019; D´Avella, 2019; Muir, 2015), risky financial products such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds or cryptocurrencies have become part of the financial repertoires of millions of individuals seeking to protect or enhance the value of their money.As a way of approaching what Pellandini-Simányi and Banai (2020) have called the livedexperiences of financialisation, this paper explores the financial repertoires (Guyer, 1995) involving the use of cryptocurrencies by young Argentines. Our main goal is to analyze to what extent the adoption of cryptocurrencies - as an asset and/or as means of payment - contributes to shaping a specific form of participation in finance, especially for young people without previous investment experiences.