Crypto retains lure in Latin America’s inflation hotspots

Mauro Liberman, co-founder of Crypstation, a coffee chain that accepts cryptocurrency as payment in Buenos Aires, Argentina. — Thomson Reuters Foundation

BUENOS AIRES: The “crypto winter” has shattered the money-making hopes of many small investors around the world, but in inflation-plagued Argentina, cryptocurrency converts are holding on.

Inflation is expected to reach 100% this year in South America's No. 2 economy, and for many Argentine retail investors the priority is to protect the value of their savings – traditionally by buying dollars, but increasingly virtual coins.