Gaming in Buenos Aires on a peso salary

The peso doesn't hold value well. Mateo knows this the way everyone his age in Buenos Aires knows it. You get paid, and by the time you think about spending, what you have buys a bit less than it did last week.

For daily things like food or transport, that's just how it is. But for games and digital content priced in dollars, the erosion is faster and more visible. A title that costs $60 USD is one price when it comes out and a different price in pesos a month later, and neither of those prices is one most people his age can comfortably pay in one go from their local wallet.

So Mateo converts a portion of what he earns into USDT as soon as he gets paid. He keeps it there and uses it when he needs to buy something. The peso amount in his bank account shrinks in real terms every week. The USDT balance stays stable.

Most of his daily spending still runs through pesos. Groceries, transport, going out. That hasn't changed and probably won't. Crypto covers the digital layer, the subscriptions and games that are priced for other markets.

What makes Mateo's situation a bit different from the other stories here is that the problem he is solving is not about card friction or international payments, since his card and account work. For him, the issue is that what those accounts hold loses purchasing power faster than he can use it for dollar-priced things.

Crypto is a holding mechanism as much as a payment one. He keeps USDT because it holds value. He spends it because it converts cleanly into the things he wants.

He will probably keep doing this as long as the peso keeps moving. The habit formed because it made sense economically, and nothing has changed to make it not make sense.

Most evenings he is online with the same group of friends, playing from the same platforms, funded the same way.

Spend crypto on games and subscriptions: top up Steam, PSN, Netflix and more: all from your USDT balance, no currency conversion, and no failed payments.