Argentina Central Bank Exposed 800 Citizens’ Sensitive Information

The list is comprised of more than 800 people that won’t be able to conduct any more exchange operations because they exceeded the monthly limit of $10,000 limit. The new restriction was recently introduced in Argentina in an effort to revive its plunging currency, the Argentine peso. The decree published by the central bank includes the names, ID number and tax identification number of each individual that failed to comply with regulations. According to the institution, this is all the information operators need in order to suspend any operations attempted by them. While the restriction imposed on their citizens was a highly debated topic, the public reveal of sensitive information opens up individuals to a series of privacy risks. Besides being barred from freely managing their assets, they would also be vulnerable to impersonation attacks and theft attempts.

The Argentine central bank published the names and tax ID numbers of individuals who purchased over USD 10,000 in the last month.

Privacy should be a right, not a privilege.https://t.co/HVYz6G5qEL

— Alex Krüger (@krugermacro) September 27, 2019

The central bank clarified that this type of communications is standard and is sent to notify all participants in the financial system when a person fails to comply with regulations. The officials stress that this is done in order to maintain transparency across all communication channels between financial institutions. According to data from the central bank, in August 97% of Argentinians stayed within regulation limits, while 32000 people exceeded the $10000 limit. The restriction imposed on citizens is limiting the selling pressure on the country’s currency, but it is an artificial lever that could now be circumvented. Bitcoin has become extremely popular in inflationary countries, like Venezuela and Argentina where strict capital controls have been instated to manage capital flows. As BeInCrypto previously reported, the Venezuelan government may use Bitcoin to avoid their broken local economy. Bitcoin not only provides an alternative for people to store their wealth but also offers a layer of privacy so that its users can remain anonymous. What is your opinion on the reveal of sensitive data from the Argentine Central Bank? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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