First Mover Americas: Crypto Friendly Javier Milei Wins Argentine Presidency

This article originally appeared in First Mover, CoinDesk’s daily newsletter putting the latest moves in crypto markets in context. Subscribe to get it in your inbox every day.

The next president of Argentina will be Javier Milei after his opponent Sergio Massa conceded on Sunday evening, saying "Argentines chose another path." With roughly 87% of the votes counted, Milei had 56% of the tally versus Massa's 44%, according to Bloomberg. Trading quietly through most of the weekend, bitcoin began rising late Sunday afternoon on chatter about a strong showing for Milei. Following Massa's concession, the crypto is higher by around 2% over 24 hours at $37,150. "We have to understand that the central bank is a scam," Milei said earlier this year when asked about bitcoin. "What bitcoin is representing," he continued, "is the return of money to its original creator, the private sector."

Sam Altman, the former CEO of OpenAI, Greg Brockman, the company's co-founder and ex-president, and other former staff members will be joining Microsoft, the software giant's CEO Satya Nadella said in a post on X. Altman left OpenAI last week after the board said it no longer had confidence in him to continue leading the company. Brockman announced his resignation shortly after Altman was ousted. Altman will lead a new advanced AI research team, Nadella said.

Santander Private Banking International, part of Spanish financial services giant Banco Santander, is offering high-net-worth clients with Swiss accounts trading and investing in the major cryptocurrencies bitcoin and ether, according to an internal announcement seen by CoinDesk. Over the next several months, Santander will offer additional cryptocurrencies that meet the bank’s screening criteria, the announcement said. Santander said the service is provided only upon client request through relationship managers, and the assets are held in a regulated custody model in which the bank stores the private cryptographic keys in a secure environment.

- Omkar Godbole