Argentina’s Bitcoin-friendly Javier Milei won the country’s presidential run-off election on Nov. 19, beating out his opponent Sergio Massa.
With almost 99% of the votes counted, Milei won over 55% of the votes, giving him a nearly 3-million-vote lead, according to Bloomberg data.
Massa, the country’s minister of economy, called Milei to congratulate him on the victory after more than 90% of the votes were counted — before the announcement of the first official results. Milei will take office on Dec. 10.
With nearly 100% of the votes counted, Milei had an over-10-percentage-point lead over Massa. Source: Bloomberg
Argentina’s long-lasting inflation crisis has been a heated topic in the South American country, with the Argentine peso recording a 140% increase in annual inflation in the last 12 months.
Milei has been vocal about his criticisms toward the country’s central bank, referring to it as a scam and a “mechanism by which politicians cheat the good people with inflationary tax.”
He’s referred to Bitcoin as a movement toward “the return of money to its original creator, the private sector.”
However, he has not signaled any intention to make Bitcoin legal tender in the country.
Massa’s views on the money, banking and cryptocurrency industries appear to be polar opposite to Milei’s.
In October, he pledged to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) if elected to “solve” Argentina’s long-lasting inflation crisis.
Massa won the first round of Argentina’s presidential election in October. However, it wasn’t enough to win the presidency outright, triggering the final run-off vote.
Prior to that, Milei won Argentina’s primary election against Massa and other candidates in August.
