Argentina’s Opportunity & the Case for a Special Economic Zone | Devcon SEA

[Music] thank you so much for being here I only have five minutes so I'm going to speak super fast I'm actually not I'm going to try to make the most of this five minutes so I'm going to talk about Argentina's opportunity and the case for a special economic zone so let's divide this by topics which is what is this economic and technological opportunity how Argentina is related to it special economic zones and where at and I think that all of us here we can agree on something which is that technology is one of the strongest drivers for human progress therefore so are tech companies but do tech companies Thrive everywhere technology can be created anywhere but for tech companies or startups to be able to develop they tend to go to the places with the best conditions therefore blue zones why would they stay in a place where they pay maybe too much taxes or that the government's not stable enough right so there's going to be this tendency for big important companies to go where they want to develop best therefore there's this idea that economies need to improve but they also compete between each other and here we can see a table this is mostly about tech companies not only crypto that's already related to where is best to be and we can see some countries like the us we can see as well um we can see Japan we can see Singapore but when it comes to Argentina it's not so pretty is it we can say over here when it comes to learning and exploration but but when you're ready on precede you start itching your legs and you kind of want to leave which is sad because when it comes to Argentina specifically we got a lot of talent We Got Talent when it comes to Tech We Got Talent when it comes to crypto We Got Talent when it comes to AI it was Diego Fernandez with quk ID which is a great example as well that mentioned the centraline maker Dow open sapping and it's not only that the companies are there it also means that the community is also there the talent is there if you look at other protocols in the world you're going to find one or two argen walking around we're pretty nice you're going to see where we're going but as well there's also the adoptions one of the countries in the world with the most web three adoption now the thing is that even though this is the case Argentina is not yet the crypto Nation International crypto nation that we wanted to be but there is no International crypto Nation for countries to be at I'm a lawyer by background and when it comes to the structure that a company would want for fundraising or toing deployment You' make a mix between Cayman Islands and ebi and Switzerland depending on your budget but there's no specific jurisdiction that can help you with everything and that's why we started talking about Argentina's opportunity this perfect storm that comes from bottoms up top to bottom the community is there the talent is there the will and the necessity of certain Market fit products is also there and also top to botom help and support from the last government if you look just on facts on the last year in Argentina I'm talking about 11 months actually there's been the most regulatory development that helps the industry on web 3 than in the last 4 to eight years on the past governments therefore the intention is there what we're trying to show is that the necessity on the market is also there these are economic problem that several that Argentina has right and these are the different ways that through crypto related startups or products there can be a difference that fixes it we just need the amount of startups that want to come and stay to actually make the difference and that's when we start talking about the necessity of longevity therefore special economic zone that can help this happen because even though different jurisdictions in the world have had their own way of trying to make nice little invironments for development none has been the top of all of them and we have seen through history because special economic zones are not new that they different ways of changing your economy from scratch therefore we want to provide longevity we want to give the top support for businesses many times supported by common law as well for the attraction and retention especially retention as an Argentinian for talent and investment right therefore there are different ways that we can do this either we do nothing and we just stay and we just look at everything burn I know that more than one one people here might be a nailist but let's try to avoid this option or we just change a bunch of laws this takes time this takes effort people don't really trust it's going to be changed or maybe to just change a bunch you make it more globally friendly but the amount of difference and benefits that you could have with the special economic zone which where we're working on for the creation is a very different kind of flavor that you would give it because the benefits are different what we're trying to show over here through cimento which is the entity that we work with is to provide Argentina for an opportunity not only for argentinians but for the world to become the crypto hub for web three startups to be able to not only develop but Thrive therefore we're already working on a regulatory sandbox public affs with government and regulators and the creation of the special economic zone so please this is us this was only five minutes I still have got 30 seconds left so I'm very proud of myself I hope you guys got to understand everything that I was saying and we still have got two more minutes meanwhile if you guys want to connect please feel free all righty we're going to do a few minutes of Q&A I'll start with the top question that we currently have from our audience what stage is Argentina SE what will be the incentive for startups to relocate there okay so stages the following currently Argentina's legal framework does not allocate for the creation of special economic zones so what we're doing is drafting what we call layer zero for the permission of the creation of them while we also start drafting what we call a layer one which would be the first digital special economic zone as the intention would be not to have this kind of benefits that come from um tax that comes from Customs that come from Market um Capital markets and that also comes from labor laws for to be for them to be just arranged to one physical space right so the benefits for startups would be to find in this special kind of zones the kind of economic conditions that make or break a business which is one of the reasons that a lot of people like K and Islands because of taxes right or why a lot of people rather go rather go to Switzerland because of the reputational law that they have or the reputational uh conditions that they have when they deal with different kind of investors all right what trade agreements are Partnerships are in place that could benefit tech companies operating in the zone uh trade agreements oh okay so in this particular pce there is um two different kind of use that you could have from a national perspective and from an international or business perspective from a national perspective what we're doing is working with uh Congress working with the federal states in Argentina therefore for them to understand what we're doing and what we trying to do in this case it has to do with training and also with the public affairs teams that we have and also especially with Regulators if you have a web through project you're most likely going to be touched upon by the Argentine version of the SEC Central Bank and uh fincent which is cnv Central Bank and we've working with them as well for the creation of this sandbox that should be launching by next year and with the assistance that would require to make it work one final question I'm squeezing in what are the next steps in the regulatory sandbox and then I'll ask you to do a wrap up of the session amazing so the next steps are the following we're already made a joint presentation to the regulator with the Argentine F chamber what we did was put the basic corre istics that a good sandbox would need for the ecosystem to do better because it's not sandbox yes sandbox not it's most likely bad sandbox bad for the ecosystem good sandbox good for the ecosystem so right before I took my plane here we had a meeting with my team and the members of the CNB that are drafting the technical table they call them they're drafting what would be the fine line and they ask for our support when it comes to the comparative analysis with different sboxes in the world to see what works and what doesn't and what should be applied in Argentina so what we're doing is helping them with the fine line so after their okay with it by ends of this year they could start doing the approval and incorporation or launching for next year and as a wrap up the opportunity of Argentina is a following it's an opportunity that shows that the community is there the talent is there the necessity of product marker fit is also there but as well we have the government that is opening an opportunity is opening a window for change to happen and at the same time the necessity of the global international market to find a place to thrive and how both of them combined could find a solution with Argentina love your speed and energy that's a wrap up with the guys