Cryptocurrencies Prove a Lifeline in Argentina’s Chaotic Economy

Sports stadiums, buses and highway billboards across Argentina are plastered with adverts for cryptocurrency exchanges, as the nation’s economic instability fuels one of the world’s biggest booms in digital money.

TV and radio hosts talk about investment options in digital coins, and a crypto exchange is currently one of the sponsors of the nation’s biggest soccer cup.

A bus with an advertisement for the Buenbit cryptocurrency exchange in Buenos Aires.

Photographer: Sarah Pabst/Bloomberg

Workers are increasingly getting paid in cryptocurrency to circumvent exchange controls and to protect them from currency swings and 50% inflation. Argentina has a higher proportion of employees getting paid in cryptocurrency than anywhere else, according to Deel, a payroll company ...