Argentines Keep Cash Under Mattresses Even as Milei Pushes Bank Accounts

A Banco Nacion ad features mattresses walking into a bank. The text reads “Use your mattress to rest, we’ll take care of your savings.”Source: Banco Nacion

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By David Feliba

May 3, 2026 at 12:00 PM UTC

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You’d be surprised how damp and smelly dollar bills get, Alejandro Lamas says, when they’ve been squirreled away under a mattress for years. He’s gotten so many stacks of them from Argentines he’s sold used cars to over the years that he’s a bit of a connoisseur. Slip him a counterfeit and he knows at first touch.