44 countries to meet in El Salvador to discuss the Bitcoin experiment and more
Nayib Bukele, the President of El Salvador, has taken to Twitter to announce that representatives from 44 countries are meeting in El tomorrow to discuss the Central American nation’s bitcoin experiment.
In September last year, El Salvador became the first country in the world to recognise Bitcoin as legal tender. Despite concerns raised by international financial institutions regarding the impact of the policy, Bukele strongly encouraged citizens to adopt the top cryptocurrency, even offering various incentives and discounts tied to Bitcoin payments.
Almost eight months in while the reviews regarding the advantages of the Bitcoin Law continue to remain mixed, the President’s latest announcement represents hope for the future of mass adoption across the world:
“Tomorrow, 32 central banks and 12 financial authorities (44 countries) will meet in El Salvador to discuss financial inclusion, digital economy, banking the unbanked, the Bitcoin rollout and its benefits in our country.”
The guest list consists mostly of developing countries in Asia and Africa, including Nigeria, Egypt, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Paraguay, Angola, Guinea and Madagascar.
The announcement was received positively by the crypto community, with one user pointing out that Bitcoin offers greater utility to developing countries like those attending the meeting.
“People in developing countries are not simply buying BTC for profits, they’re buying Bitcoin for economic freedom,” the user said.
Bitcoin Beach, a Twitter account representing the “little community that helped Orange Pill the world’s first Bitcoin nation”, reported the possibility of a meeting a day before Bukele’s tweet, pointing out that representatives of various central banks and financial institutions were flying to El Salvador.
The conference will be held days after the IMF advised El Salvador to withdraw the Bitcoin law.
Currently, El Salvador holds about 2000 Bitcoins on its balance sheet. The country recently brought 500 coins for $30744 to make the best of the dip during the market-wide financial crash witnessed in the last few days. Bitcoin is trading at $29405, marking a six per cent fall in the last 24 hours.
