Guido Cannetti becomes the first Argentine athlete to receive his full salary in cryptocurrency
The famous Argentine Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter, Guido Cannetti, received 100% payment of his salary in cryptocurrency due to the high inflation rate ravaging Argentina. He became the first athlete in the history of Argentina to receive a salary in cryptocurrency. The payment was made by Bitwage, a cryptocurrency company.
Bitwage made a statement that Guido Cannetti will receive his payment in USDC, a stablecoin on the Stellar Network with a wallet created specifically for Argentines to shield their funds from inflation.
It was confirmed that the inflation rate in Argentina from January to August has risen to 78.5%. Some private analysts predicted the inflation rate to rise to 100% before the end of 2022 while the Central Bank of Argentina predicted the inflation rate to hit 95% by the end of the year.
Cannetti mentioned in a statement provided by Bitwage, “I am getting paid in USDC because it is safer for my future,” saying that stablecoins will protect his money from the turbulence and depreciation of the fiat currency.
According to DolarHoy, the black-market exchange rate was 287 pesos to 1 USD at the time of publication. The Stablecoin is pegged to the value of the dollar. The Americas Market Intelligence conducted a poll and discovered that 51% of consumers in Argentina bought cryptocurrency in April, and 27% of them did so on a regular basis, up from 12% adoption at the end of 2021.