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A little over a month ago, El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin (BTC/USD) as legal tender, after its president originally announced the move only two months before that. In doing so, El Salvador made history, but also a strong impression on other countries and their leaders and officials.
Now, the world is debating whether or not other nations will follow in El Salvador’s footsteps, and while some seem like they might — the President of Mexico made sure to point out that his country will not be among them.
Mexico’s president shares his priorities, and BTC adoption is not among them
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President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador recently spoke of the idea of adopting BTC as legal tender, decisively rejecting it for his own country. He added that his administration does not plan to bring a lot of innovation in the world of financial management and that their stance is that they should remain orthodoxy when it comes to finances.
Lopez Obrador further pointed out that his main goal is to make sure that Mexicans have good salaries, and that financial crimes — such as tax evasion — are rooted out of the country. Crypto investing, on the other hand, is not needed for financing the country, he said.
This is not the first time this year that Mexico expressed a negative stance towards cryptocurrencies. In June, for example, the country’s central bank said that crypto is off-limits for financial institutions. The move was not very beneficial for the country’s billionaire, Ricardo Salinas Pliego, who is a major crypto supporter and was rather looking forward to cryptocurrencies securing a better foothold in Mexico.
Unfortunately, the country’s government seems determined to disrupt Bitcoin’s strengthening in the country. So, despite Alexander Hoptner’s — Bitmex’s CEO — prediction that at least five nations will adopt BTC as legal tender by 2022, it appears that Mexico will not be among them.