48 making a variety of customer needs, including opening accounts, transferring money, paying bills, budgeting for the future, accessing lines of credit, and others, easier. Fintech solutions are an alluring prospect due to Argentina’s widespread internet access and its growing tech sector. According to Statista, 72% of Argentinians had access to the internet in 2020. Nearly 88% of the population with access to the internet reported using the internet every day, with another 10% using the internet at least once per week. The share of mobile phones in web traffic is 52%, one of the highest rates in the region. In comparison, Brazil’s percentage of internet penetration is only 67%, with mobile internet access only at 33.69%. These impressive internet access statistics speak to the widespread availability of internet in the country. Mobile internet is not only accessible but also high quality; 4G coverage was targeted to hit 93% by the end of 2019 (Poliarquía Consultores, 2020). Because of high mobile internet use, the barriers are low for individuals to access fintech platforms. The nation’s widespread internet access makes potential shifts to digitized financial solutions accessible to the entire population. Even the Argentine government has recognized the potential to apply fintech to its banking system. The BCRA is contributing to the growth of fintech through the adoption of a new ECHEQ program. Launched in July 2019, this form of electronic checks allows consumers to securely send and receive checks digitally. The goals were to reduce operating costs, enable consumers to endorse checks without limits, and increase security. This program benefits consumers and banks, enabling them to send and receive money more efficiently with fewer checks being rejected. Accepting innovation is a positive step for the central bank and may indicate its willingness to go along with future measures. Blockchain in Argentina Within the fintech sector, blockchain technology is a promising sphere that offers the ability to revolutionize the current structure of transactions and intermediaries. A blockchain is essentially an immutable ledger that is managed by a decentralized network of computers. The “blocks” are individual transactions, continually being posted to the ledger. The “chain” refers to the history of transactions, all verified by the network. Blockchain is an intriguing concept in that it is decentralized by nature. The verification performed by the peer-to-peer network eliminates the need for institutions, such as banks, governments, or other regulators, to keep track of the transactions. Once a new block is created, it is verified by the computers on the network; then it is added to the chain, thereby making each record unique with its own history. Validated records (blocks) are immutable and public to the entire network. Each block’s connection to the rest of the chain is what makes a blockchain secure. In order for someone to falsify a record, they would need to falsify the history of every other record as well. Ultimately the transparency of the blockchain network provides incredible security. Adding a record to the ledger strengthens the complexity and security of the chain (“How the Blockchain…,” 2018). Cryptocurrency, or crypto, currently is the most prominent application of blockchain technology. Other promising applications include storing government records and managing shipments in a supply chain—suggesting the worldwide blockchain technologymarket is still expanding. Today the market size is estimated at $3B, and it is expected to grow exponentially to $40B by 2025 (Liu, 2020). Argentina has cultivated a growing fintech industry over the past decade, specifically for blockchain. With its free higher education, Argentina has one of the most educated populations in Latin America. When also taking into account that they rank first out of Latin American countries on the English Proficiency Index, it is clear why the nation has been able to incubate many new startups and be an attractive destination for tech nearsourcing. Buenos Aires is home to numerous blockchain companies, such as Ripio, Flixxo, RSK, Bitfarms, and Decentraland, which have been drawing funding and investment. The Argentine government has supported the growth of blockchain companies by matching investments of up to $50,000 into blockchain projects that receive funding from Binance, a popular cryptocurrency exchange (Khatri,
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