comment: >
  
  I'm in Buenos Aires. I got here a month ago. Some people here convert their salaries into dollars as fast as possible when they can. You can also easily sell dollars/euros in grey/dark market currency exchanges.
  The banknotes are ridiculous. The biggest banknote is worth about USD 2.70, so people have to deal with tons of banknotes anytime they want to buy something a bit expensive. I'm not sure why they're not printing bigger banknotes. Probably because they're in denial or afraid of causing even more inflation out of panic.
  Paying by card here isn't really a thing (as a foreigner), as you get charged with the shitty official rate. This has supposedly changed last month, but my cards (Revolut/Wise) still charge me the official rate, which is 50% worse.
context: This is for regional trade only. I dont know how they didnt specify that in the article >
  
  I studied economics and i've never heard of a currency for regional trade only. Are there other examples of this? >
  
  The US dollar often performs this role in trade between countries with volatile currencies.
  The sur will basically act like the dollar but will not be controlled by the US.
  This is little more than a trial run for South America to not be dependent on the dollar or the yuan in the way that Europe is not dependent on the dollar or the yuan. A new currency makes sense because there is no fiat currency in South America that is stable enough to perform this role.
  The most cynical take is that leftist leaders are looking to create a sanction-proof economy. >
  
  And that last take is pretty irrelevant anyways cous by the years end Argentina has a national election and the left wing government is expected to lose massively, I mean their poll numbers are horrid and there expected candidate can’t run anymore because of a corruption case. >
  
  What are the chances that the new Argentian government continues this? >
  
  Depends on how they feel about Lula and even the right wing candidate who wins the first round and how the election goes.
  If they run a campaign of anti chavismo/leftism it may kill this program, if they run on a pro west platform it could hurt it. So it really depends. >
  
  Argentina needs to do something with its currency. 2022 inflation rate was nearly 100%. That means 100.00 would buy half as much in December as it did in January