Argentina's Capital Controls Drive Demand for Bitcoin

The difference between freedom and absence thereof can be measured in many ways, and none less than in Argentina's current situation whereby public confidence is being eroded yet again by the latest in a series of overtly strict and potentially disastrous monetary policies set in place in the troubled South American country.

This week, Forex Magnates reported on the introduction by President Cristina Kirchner of the nation's pseudo-currency, the Cedin, however there has been also a shift of interest toward Bitcoin as the net closes in on holders of US Dollars, a practice now illegal in Argentina. …

Compared to Argentina's much more freedom-orientated neighbor Uruguay, values of Bitcoins in Buenos Aires are between 30% and 40% higher than just 75 kilometers away in Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay according to Argentinian Bitcoin expert Mauro Betschart.