The registration of the first company with a share capital in bitcoin has been approved by the General Inspectorate of Justice (IGJ) of Argentina.

“The General Inspectorate of Justice of Argentina and the law firm Allende & Brea declare that the first Latin American joint stock company integrated with cryptocurrency capital has been registered in the country,” the registrar said in an official statement.

A representative of the law firm Allende & Brea explained that the creation of a company with a share capital in crypto implies the legal registration of a business in which the partners provide a predetermined amount of digital assets to support the company’s activities and demonstrate their interest in the business.

The registration process required the creation of two cryptocurrency wallets through local digital asset exchanges Lemon Cash and Ripio. The capital, equivalent to 470,625 Argentine pesos (about $500), was represented by 0.00457621 BTC ($302.50) and $194.99 in USDC stablecoins.

Earlier, Forbes reported that citizens of Argentina, a country with the highest cryptocurrency adoption rate in the Western Hemisphere and inflation of about 300%, do not trust the services of cryptocurrency exchanges and prefer to store digital assets on their own.

According to a Binance study, 50% of Latin American investors buy cryptocurrencies for the long term. The survey involved 10,000 users from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico. 50.3% of respondents prefer to use cryptocurrencies as a tool for long-term savings, and 18.8% of respondents said that they trade crypto assets daily.

P2P transactions are made by 8.4% of users, and decentralized financial applications are used by 8.2% of cryptocurrency owners. 4.9% of respondents pay for goods and services with cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies are usually used in Latin America to make money transfers, but only 3.4% of respondents admitted to this, Binance researchers noted. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are purchased by 4.8% of Latin Americans.

Binance analysts asked local investors about the reasons for investing in cryptocurrencies. The main motive for buying was high profitability (20.3% of respondents). 15.2% of investors are confident that cryptocurrencies can help achieve financial freedom. Latin American users noted a number of reasons for buying crypto assets: protecting their savings from rising inflation and devaluation of national currencies, investing in innovation, diversifying their investment portfolio, and privacy.