Something really weird happened in Argentina this week. It's hard to explain to anyone not living here, but I'll try.

Historically, Argentina had the most ridiculous prices for imported products. For example, in 2013 the iPad was $499 in the US, but $1094 in Argentina. This was due to very high imports taxes (50%) AND very corrupt customs which hold most products for months unless you bribe.

This created a weird dynamic where anyone traveling abroad was asked by many acquaintances to smuggle stuff for them. Most argentine international travelers were technology mules.

*HOWEVER*, last week, ARS/USD black market rate went crazy high (~138 ARS per each USD), while the official rate is artificially very low, at less than 50% of that (~67 ARS per USD). This created a weird market condition:

All imported products (cars, technology, etc) are now very cheap (in USD)! This is because importers buy USD at the official rate, but sell their products in ARS. To anyone holding savings in USD cash, everything is suddenly ~50% off.

This created a huge demand surge for imported products in the midst of a pandemic and economic crisis. Crazy! The government is now evaluating forcing minimum prices for imported goods, to stop people escaping the melting ARS into actual goods which hold some value over time.

p.s.: buy bitcoin!