Mexico Votes on Cryptocurrencies: a Boost to Bitcoin Adoption

(Photo Credit: Cryptonomist)

During the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami, Florida, Mexico’s third richest billionaire, Ricardo Salinas Pilego spoke about inflation, hyperinflation, bitcoins and fiat currencies.

He warned: “The bad news is that the U.S., and Japan, and the U.K., and the euroblock — they are going exactly the same route my country went in the 80s. It’s exactly copy-paste, you could just change the numbers but the graph would be the same.” The billionaire opined: “Unfortunately, in the U.S. it’s curtains. This is the way to save your skin — buy bitcoin.” on April 4. Further information is available on his Twitter.

The Mexican government is getting bullish on Bitcoin. Indira Kempis, a senator from Mexico, announced Thursday that the government will propose legislation to make bitcoin legal tender. The bill would be the first of its kind in North America and would make Mexico the largest country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender.

There are already several popular cryptocurrency exchanges in Mexico. Such legislation could lead to greater use and broader adoption in Bitcoin.

Some Bitcoin miners already operate in Mexico and others, including Chia Network, the company behind the XCH coin, are in the process of setting up cryptocurrency mining operations there.

Legislation to be Proposed in Two Months

“Additionally, in two months, we will propose legislation to modify regulations in (financial technology) and in monetary law.”

Kempis has drafted a project of decree that would amend the Mexican monetary law to include a central bank digital currency. 

Kempis previously said the government would introduce legislation making Bitcoin legal tender, but the move this week appears to be a more progressive step.

In addition, Kempis indicated that most people in Mexico do not have bank accounts. At the conference, she was accompanied by Samsom Mow, the former chief strategy officer for Bitcoin company Blockstream, who advised El Salvador on its adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender.

Latin America Early Adaptor

The president of Chia, Gene Hoffman, believes Mexico will be one of the first Latin American countries to embrace blockchain technology and cryptocurrency.

According to Chia, Mexico and other Latin American governments will adopt blockchain technology at an enterprise level as they search for ways to where there is fraud and lack of transparency.

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