Salvadoran President Meets with Binance CEO and Mexican Businessman

San Salvador, 25 Mar The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, met with the executive director of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, Changpeng Zhao, and businessman Ricardo Salinas Pliego, as reported on Friday by the Presidency. Both meetings were held on Thursday and would have focused mainly on the adoption of bitcoin as a legal tender in the Central American country. “President Nayib Bukele opens the possibility of new investments in El Salvador with the CEO and founder of Binance,” the source said briefly. It is unknown whether Bukele and Zhao spoke about the Salvadoran government's initiative to issue $1 billion in bitcoin bonds. On the eve, the president indicated that Twitter that the meeting would be “to discuss other issues, not volcano bonds (bitcoin). Unless you want to buy something, of course.” Bukele noted that the bonds “will be issued with Bitfinex,” one of the main cryptocurrency exchange platforms. That same day, the Salvadoran ambassador to the United States, Milena Mayorga, said that “we need businessmen of his stature (Zhao) to support the issue of the subscription of volcano bonds.” The Government announced that the issuance of these bonds would take place between March 15 and 20, 2022, but Bukele has pointed out that the “short delay” is due to the fact that pension reform is being prioritized. Binance is one of the most popular crypto asset exchanges in the world and its BNB cryptocurrency is one of the most popular cryptocurrency on the market, behind Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tether. In the case of the Mexican bitcoin entrepreneur and holder, the Presidency noted that it spoke with Bukele about “the experience of being the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as a legal tender.” He indicated that Salinas “is the owner and founder of the Salinas Group, which integrates several companies, including Banco Azteca and Elektra.” The International Monetary Fund (IMF) urged the country to “limit the scope of the Bitcoin Act by eliminating its status as a legal tender” and also expressed its “concern” about the issuance of these bonds. In September 2021, El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as a legal currency, along with the US dollar, a period that has been marked by poor acceptance among the population and the lack of information on the management of more than 200 million dollars destined for its adoption. In mid-February, three US senators presented a legislative initiative for the government to design a plan to “mitigate the risks” that bitcoin adoption in El Salvador poses to the U.S. financial system. CHIEF hs/cpy