Argentina’s Customs Office Reportedly Seizes $21M in Crypto Mining Equipment
- The seized crypto mining equipments arrived in Ezeiza and were reportedly bound for the Free Trade Zone of La Plata.
About 2,233 Whatsminer crypto miners worth over $21M have reportedly been seized by Argentina’s customs agency for improper importation. According to a local newspaper, identified as Ambito Financiero, the custom operatives impounded the mining rigs after claims that they were invoiced at a price that is $5 million more than their actual worth.
Reportedly, each crypto mining equipment is valued between $6,316 to $7,700 each. Since the filing late last week, Judge Pablo Yaradola has been probing the case. According to reports, the judge on Monday issued a directive for the conduct of a robust survey on the seized crypto mining equipments.
The General Director of the Customs Office, Guillermo Michel condemned the incident, stressing that everyone has a role to play in taking care of the dollars for production and job creation. He said it is grossly improper to use the currency as a means for financial speculations.
Argentina’s Government On Crypto Adoption
Global governments are rushing to regulate the crypto market before it gets out of their control. The Argentinian National Securities Commission has helped the country emerge as top crypto regulator in the region.
In fact, most jurisdictions and authorities have yet to enact laws governing cryptocurrencies, meaning that, for most countries, the legality of crypto mining remains unclear.
The crypto market has emerged as a better alternative investment vehicle with higher returns over time for most people. It is safe to argue that buying Bitcoin is more profitable than the stock market over a long period of time.
Furthermore, high-net-worth companies and individuals are venturing into the crypto market. Reportedly, the seizure of crypto mining rigs comes amidst a U.S. dollar shortage in Argentina.
Reportedly, the Apex bank in Argentina currently experiences a shortage of foreign reserves, particularly on its balance sheet. This development, as revealed consequently, led to stern enforcement of import controls by the authorities this week.
Reportedly, the seized crypto mining equipments arrived in Ezeiza and were bound for the Free Trade Zone of La Plata. Now, the agency has blocked all requests for transit import via the Ezeiza-La Plata Free zone.
This was reportedly done in a bid to carry out a thorough probe of the incident. However, initial investigations made by the customs office allegedly traced cryptocurrency mining machines to China.
The agency hinted that the now impounded equipments have been invoiced by a foreign firm, situated in Florida, United States. Now, the agency intends to probe the connection between one of the persons responsible for the foreign company “LLC” (Limited Liability Company) and another individual, employee, and attorney before the banks of the Argentine importing company.
More so, the Argentina authorities through the customs office embarked on systematic inspections of all the companies allegedly operating in such modality. According to Ambito, the agency asked the DGI to track the tax history of the fingered companies and individuals.
Rebecca is a Senior Staff Writer at BitcoinWisdom, working hard to bring you the latest breaking news in the cryptocurrency market. In the words of Elon Musk “Buy stock in several companies that make products & services that *you* believe in. Only sell if you think their products & services are trending worse. Don’t panic when the market does. This will serve you well in the long-term.”
