Argentina has one of Latin America's most sophisticated financial infrastructures. We have instant transfers, QR payments, digital wallets, and a fintech ecosystem that rivals Brazil's. Yet cash remains king. Walk into any kiosk, take a taxi, or pay a plumber—cash is not just preferred, it's often required.

This isn't a technological problem. It's a trust problem, an infrastructure problem, and most importantly, an economic structure problem.

The trust deficit

Argentines have seen their savings evaporate multiple times within living memory. The corralito of 2001-2002, when bank accounts were frozen and dollar deposits forcibly converted to devalued pesos, left scars that haven't healed. When you've watched the banking system confiscate wealth, keeping money in the digital realm feels like a risk.

"Mi abuelo perdió todo en el corralito. Mi viejo perdió todo en el 2001. Yo guardo efectivo." — A phrase I've heard dozens of times.

This generational trauma isn't irrational. It's adaptive behavior in an environment of institutional instability. Digital payments create a record. Records can be tracked, taxed, frozen. Cash is freedom from a state that has repeatedly proven untrustworthy.

The infrastructure reality

Beyond Buenos Aires, connectivity is inconsistent. Payment terminals fail. Internet drops. The Mercado Pago app crashes during peak hours. When your business depends on completing transactions, you need a backup that always works.

Cash is that backup. It doesn't need WiFi. It doesn't need a charged phone. It doesn't care if AFIP's servers are down.

The informal economy

This is the elephant in the room. Estimates suggest 30-40% of Argentina's economy operates informally. This isn't just street vendors and domestic workers—it includes professionals, small businesses, and service providers who operate partially or entirely off the books.

For these actors, digital payments aren't just inconvenient—they're existential threats. Every electronic transaction is a paper trail. A paper trail is a tax liability. In a country with one of the world's highest tax burdens and a Byzantine regulatory framework, staying informal is often rational.

So what do we do?

The answer isn't to force digital adoption. It's to:

The fintech revolution is real and important. But it will coexist with cash for the foreseeable future. And maybe that's not a failure—maybe it's a feature of a resilient system where people have options.

The goal shouldn't be to eliminate cash. It should be to create a financial system trustworthy enough that people choose digital because it's better, not because they're forced to.

We're not there yet. And pretending otherwise helps no one.