Rodrigo Coelho, CEO of Edge & Node, highlighted the role of crypto-based solutions during Argentina’s financial crisis. He noted that people faced strict banking limits and turned to stablecoins and Visa cards for daily transactions. This statement was made on a podcast recording on March 25.
"The price of a bottle of water would be way higher one month to the next," said Coelho. "The country had limitations in terms of the bank—how much people could cash out. They would literally pay for things with bags of money, you know, that was cashed out out of crypto. They kept their funds in USDC or used crypto Visa cards."
During Argentina's inflationary crises, the government imposed stringent capital controls to prevent currency flight and stabilize the economy. According to Bloomberg, these measures included restrictions on the amount of U.S. dollars individuals could purchase or withdraw, often limiting access to as little as $200 per month. This situation prompted citizens to explore alternative financial systems such as cryptocurrencies to maintain liquidity and make everyday purchases.
Capital controls in Argentina also extended to international credit card transactions, foreign transfers, and bank withdrawals. According to Americas Quarterly, these restrictions increased after 2019, forcing citizens to seek borderless, censorship-resistant financial tools. Many Argentinians adopted stablecoins like USDC and used crypto-linked debit cards to circumvent official limits and access the dollar-pegged economy.
Visa and Mastercard have partnered with crypto companies to issue cards that allow users to spend digital assets like stablecoins directly. According to CNBC, these crypto cards function like regular debit cards but draw from a digital wallet instead of a bank account, offering a vital workaround in countries facing financial restrictions. This innovation has been particularly impactful in Latin America, where banking instability is common.
Coelho is a Brazilian entrepreneur known for his leadership in building decentralized internet infrastructure at Edge & Node. He brings regional insight from Latin America, where financial instability has driven rapid crypto adoption. Prior to leading Edge & Node, Coelho held various roles in blockchain development and product strategy.
Edge & Node is a core development company behind The Graph, a decentralized protocol that indexes blockchain data, allowing developers to query and access it efficiently. The organization supports the broader web3 ecosystem by offering infrastructure tools that enable decentralized apps to function without reliance on traditional servers or centralized databases. According to The Graph Foundation, Edge & Node is one of several key contributors to this open-source protocol.