Introducing Crecimiento
Welcome to the movement 🇦🇷
Welcome to Crecimiento 👋
Para leer esta publicación del blog en español, haga clic aquí.
We’re excited you’re here!
Crecimiento is a movement that came from a simple idea: now is Argentina’s moment to drive significant crypto adoption in Argentina and transform the economy.
Strong grassroots crypto adoption, world-class developer talent, and top-down political ambition, combined with newfound investor interest, create a prime opportunity to rebuild the country into a leading crypto and startup hub.
Crecimiento’s vision is to be the transformation. Our goals are clear:
Bringing 5 to 10 million people on-chain with great products and startups;
Making Argentina’s tech startup ecosystem 10x larger and better through funding, infrastructure and support; and
Giving startups >20-year stability by establishing a new regulatory framework.
To realise this vision we’re bringing dreamers and believers together, hosting a Pop-Up City this August, creating a regulatory sandbox in Buenos Aires, forming projects, teams and capital, and establishing growth and support structures like startup accelerators!
550+ visionaries and dreamers have already come together to seize this moment. Are you in?
Join the Movement!
Join the Crecimiento community: https://t.me/+4hL7Vc7llSoxOWRk
Partner with us: Learn more about the movement & partnerships here
Contribute: There are so many ways to get involved, check them out here
Ciudad de Crecimiento
We are hosting a month-long Pop-Up City in Buenos Aires. During the whole month of August, some of the most brilliant minds in the world will meet in Argentina to work on building the first crypto nation. Global expertise, incredible local talent and an experimental regulatory sandbox promise to combine for the first time ever, making Ciudad a one-in-the-world event and setting a moment of time for the Crecimiento movement to blossom. Learn more about the Pop-Up here.
Part 1 - Why Crecimiento
Drivers
The movement, known by various names and taking on many forms, has been building momentum for years. Argentina’s economy has been struggling for decades, plagued by high inflation (surging to 211.4% at the end of 2023), rising debt and low economic confidence. This situation has significantly affected the lives of Argentinians, leading to widespread poverty and unemployment. Enough is enough. The election of Javier Milei as President was a clear signal of fatigue by Argentines to address these deep-rooted economic issues. The growth of crypto adoption and the rise of Milei to power demonstrates Argentina is ready to embrace new approaches to rejuvenate the economy. The desire for Crecimiento is clear.
Economic Prosperity
Economic prosperity manifests in various forms, all hinging on the fundamental ability to transact, engage in business, and trust that savings will not be eroded by devaluation. A robust economy requires not just stability but also job creation and opportunities for Argentines. Basic financial infrastructure, including access to credit (e.g. payday loans and mortgages), are essential for enabling people to invest in their futures. Furthermore, improving ways for people to sell or grow their assets as well as offering investments are crucial. Crecimiento can create this environment where economic prosperity can truly thrive.
Crypto Rails
Crypto, blockchains and smart contracts offer a paradigm shift: you can deploy new structures that can shift how economies, governance systems and resource distribution work. This is transformational. Crypto also creates a foundation for creative innovative economic and financial products. By leveraging crypto people can develop and deploy new currencies, contracts, and credit systems, which can bypass traditional financial barriers. This technology enables the creation of new instruments and tools, which are particularly valuable in an unstable economic environment like Argentina. Millions of Argentines (~10% of the population) already have more control over their finances and protection for their assets from local volatility through crypto, which also enables them to access and benefit from global finance through DeFi.
Products & Startups of the Future
A key to Argentina’s economic and social revival lies in the development of breakthrough startups. These startups can address a wide range of economic problems, creating products and services tailored to the needs of Argentines. This new generation of startups has the potential to only serve and benefit Argentina, but also expand to Latin America and the world. By fostering innovation and entrepreneurship, these products can help Argentina build a more resilient and dynamic economy, transforming its economic landscape and setting an example for other nations in the region and beyond. Crecimiento is not just about sourcing these startups, but also nurturing them so they can become world-class technologies.
Part 2 - Seeding the Movement
Beginnings
The election of Javier Milei and his vocal support for Bitcoin and crypto have ignited Argentine excitement. It’s also created global interest among innovators, builders and investors. In February 2024 Juan Benet (Founder, Protocol Labs; Inventor, IPFS, Filecoin) and Martin Carrica (Co-Founder, Mountain Protocol) recognised this moment as a potential major turning point for Argentina’s economic landscape and wondered whether a popup city could kick-start a movement and new startups.
Driven by this vision, Juan, along with James Tunningley, Molly Mackinlay and Ruben Amen (Protocol Labs), and Janine Leger (Zuzalu, Edge City), began working on starting such a movement and city while at Edge City in ETHDenver. We reached out to many stellar Argentinians building in crypto or with key expertise; everyone shared deep excitement for the potential.
Harnessing this momentum, in April, James organised the ‘Argentina Opportunity - Igniting Innovation’ Summit. The virtual summit brought together diverse perspectives from leading experts on Argentina, fostering a collaborative environment to brainstorm and strategise on how to best utilise crypto technologies to drive Argentina's economic revival. We heard from founders building startups (Martin Carrica, Marcelo ‘Chelo’ Cavazzoli), government innovators (Diego Fernández, Alfonso Campenni), investors (Elián Álvarez), journalists (Michael Casey), community leaders (Janine Leger, Santi Cristobal), and more.
We reviewed Argentina’s position, progress so far, crypto adoption, biggest pain points, and big opportunities. We came away energised by everyone’s passion!
Thinking Together
Following the excitement of the Summit, a number of us gathered in Buenos Aires to continue discussions, grow the movement, and see whether the plan for a popup city would work. The trip featured breakfast discussions on stablecoins and financial infrastructure, dinners with founders and investors to discuss Argentina’s startup ecosystem, and conversations with the MuBuenos pop-up builder community.
We held meetings with regulators and the Buenos Aires government to explore creating a regulatory sandbox in the city, visited top crypto companies like Lemon, and met with senior government officials at Casa Rosada. Highlights also included Ripio’s anniversary celebration and exploring Colonia and MasColonia’s blockchain-enabled Smart City in Uruguay.
The trip also involved extensive co-working sessions, traditional Asados, and Fernet, fostering a growing movement and uniting hundreds of leaders and visionaries. Everyone’s excitement and passion grew, reinforcing one other!
Growing Together
Crecimiento has now grown to 550+ contributors from all walks of life, focused on delivering significant financial prosperity for millions, through crypto. The movement has three initial goals:
Bringing 5 to 10 million people on-chain with great products
Making Argentina’s tech startup ecosystem 10x larger and better through funding & support
Giving startups >20-year stability by establishing a new regulatory framework
The Movement is currently hard at work to achieve these goals:
Framing the problems and potential solutions in concentrated Working Groups
Sourcing startups and attracting the best builders
Organising a kick-ass Pop-Up City for August
Refining proposals with government and regulators on a sandbox law for crypto in Buenos Aires
Bringing more people to the movement
Scoping future support programs, e.g. startup accelerators
Crecimiento has celebrated the birth of its first Crecimiento Citizen (congratulations to Tule and Pili!).
Par 3 - Meet the Leaders & Contributors
Inspiring leaders and contributors have emerged within the Movement. Meet some of them:
“I believe the Crecimiento movement is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to realize our country's and people’s potential. We can become a technology powerhouse, creating prosperity and well-being for our citizens.” - Diego Fernandez, Secretary of Innovation for Buenos Aires
“For the first time, Crecimiento united the entire crypto industry with a shared vision: making Argentina a leading crypto hub and a model of prosperity and innovation. I'm very excited to contribute to making this happen.” - Marcelo ‘Chelo’ Cavazzoli, Founder & CEO, Lemon (@lemoncheli)
“They say ‘Revolutions take years to simmer and then happen in an instant.’ The time for Argentina has come. There's a movement that’s being created in front of us, a movement that looks to empower creators and builders to show what they can create with nothing to stop them but their imagination. Now it’s the time for change, let's open the flood gates of Argentine innovation.” - Emi Velazquez, Multitime DeFi Co-Founder (@emivelazquez6)
"Argentina leads in the crypto industry with a significant pool of talented developers and entrepreneurs, fostering a unique and high-growth tech ecosystem. Crecimiento is helping make Argentina the best place for web3 startups to flourish.” - Elian D. Alvarez & Andrés Fleischer, Managing Partners at Ripio Ventures (@eliandalvarez, @andresWeb3VC)
"For many years, we've been subject to the decisions of our governments, but now it's time for Argentinians to shape the future we desire. By empowering entrepreneurs and visionaries, Crecimiento is already showing how coordinated efforts can create a significant impact on the world, fostering freedom, stability, and prosperity." - Fiorella Scantamburlo, POAP (@fiorescan)
“Crecimiento is a unique opportunity to transform Argentina forever. Supporting people building technology to bring financial freedom and prosperity to millions of Argentines. And with the hope that if we can make millions better off, perhaps we can reshape our institutions, and, with them, our future.” - Santi Cristobal, Founder, Solow (@scristobal94)
“Crecimiento stands as a powerful manifesto for empowering individuals to create a decentralized, permissionless, and transparent future, with Argentina poised to lead this global movement by transforming its vibrant developers and entrepreneurs into pioneers of a new era.” - Dolores Collazo, Ethereum Argentina (@imd0llar)
“Crecimiento is going to set a solid example of how blockchain can transform existing systems. The world is going to learn from Crecimiento and Argentina. As one of the few non-Argentinians on the core team, I am excited to contribute, learn and one day bring this movement to other parts of the world.” - Bohao Sun, The Mu (@sunbh_eth)
“Supporting Crecimiento means championing a new era of creativity and growth for the crypto community in Buenos Aires." - Santi Siri, President of Democracy Earth Foundation (@santisiri)
“I'm excited to support Crecimiento as brings together global & argentinian talent, to harnesses the power of crypto to drive innovation and financial freedom in Argentina, turning it into a global hub for prosperity.” - Mariano Mayer, Managing Partner & Co-Founder, Newtopia VC; President of ARCAP (@gugamayer)
Join us at the Crecimiento Pop-Up City! 🏙️
Many of us are actively working on these initiatives virtually and in person in Buenos Aires, Mendoza and across the country. We will be gathering a few hundred people in person this August to collaborate further. Our goal is to kickstart projects and further iterate on the tangible solutions we’re developing. We invite you to join us in this effort at Aleph, our Pop-Up City in Buenos Aires.
More details available soon, be sure to subscribe here for updates and/or attend the next community call here.
Contact us: info@crecimiento.build
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