Latam Insights Encore: El Salvador’s Bitcoin Bragging Signals a Point of No Return

Welcome to Latam Insights Encore, a deep dive into Latin America’s most relevant economic and cryptocurrency news from the past week. This edition examines how El Salvador is now placing its Bitcoin-focused policy front and center in its international engagements, suggesting that there may be no turning back.

Latam Insights Encore: Bragging Means There Is No Turning Back in El Salvador’s Bitcoin Entanglement

El Salvador, which became one of the first nation-states to embrace bitcoin almost completely as part of its economic policy, seems to have reached a point of no return when it comes to promoting bitcoin as part of its ethos.

Vice President Felix Ulloa presented El Salvador’s bitcoin reserves and policies as a substantial success for the country at a recent meeting with Chinese Ambassador Zhang Yanhui. In particular, he boasted about the bitcoin reserve incubated by El Salvador, which accounts for over 6,000 BTC.

Presenting this fact and placing these bitcoin-friendly policies front and center in such an important international encounter can only mean one thing: El Salvador’s involvement with bitcoin has reached a point of no return that cannot be reversed unless a black swan event occurs.

Many were cautious about President Bukele’s moves and the deal brokered to support the local economy with a $1.4 billion credit line from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), one of the largest bitcoin critics. However, while we still don’t know the fine print of this deal, while it was announced to disrupt the nation’s bitcoin operations, this has still not materialized and is unlikely to do so in the short term.

Barring a regime change, which seems unlikely given that Bukele has close to 90% of the public support, it feels like El Salvador will be entangled with its bitcoin policies for quite some time.

And while the country might sacrifice minor bitcoin-linked endeavors to appease the IMF, the core of IRS bitcoin policies, including its bitcoin reserve strategy, will remain in place, at least in the medium term. #Write2Earn