In the throes of a currency crisis, the price of Bitcoin in Buenos Aires is now between 30% and 40% higher than it is in neighboring Uruguay, according to Mauro Betschart, the Argentine CEO and co-founder of BTCGlobal, and reported by Forexmagnates.com.

The Argentine Peso rate for Bitcoin may have gained momentum due to the introduction last week of a secondary national currency, called the Cedin, an acronym for Certificate of Deposit for Investment, which was introduced last week. Amid double-digit inflation, the unofficial exchange rate for U.S. dollars has grown to double the official rate received at the bank. See chart below.

However, these developments are only the latest in a series of over thirty measures introduced by President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s administration aimed at bolstering the nation’s declining foreign reserves. Argentina’s FX reserves had fallen to around US$40bn by the first quarter of 2013, while an estimated $160 billion in US dollars are purportedly held by Argentinians in overseas accounts.

A chart of USD/ARS is provided below, courtesy of zerohedge.com.