Indira Kempis, a Mexican senator who represents the state of Nuevo Leon says she will be creating a proposal within the year to introduce Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender in Mexico. She plans to base the proposed law on the approved law making Bitcoin legal tender in El Salvador last year.
The senator was recently interviewed by ‘Diario El Salvador’ and discussed the powerful impact the law has had for El Salvador as well as the impending benefits that Bitcoin can offer the people of Mexico. Throughout the interview she praised Bitcoin’s attributes as an inclusive currency that benefits the unbanked. She states she has been researching and consulting with Bitcoin experts and wants to use her political influence to promote Bitcoin in Mexico.
What law regarding Bitcoin did El Salvador pass?
On September 7th 2021 El Salvador approved a law establishing Bitcoin as legal tender. This makes El Salvador the first county to accept the worlds largest cryptocurrency as legal tender. The law provides for Bitcoin ATM’s and requires businesses to accept Bitcoin as payment.
Although the decision was marked with controversy at first as it sparked large protests over concerns it may bring further instability to the country, things seem to have calmed and many now see expected and unexpected benefits to the law. For instance, nearly 6 months after the bill was introduced, tourism exploded and overcame pandemic lows providing much needed revenue for the country. Morena Valdes, the head of the Ministry of Tourism stated “We did a poll to check the activity, according to the before and after of bitcoin. The tourism sector increased in November and December more than 30%.”
Earlier this week, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele took to Twitter to tout the country’s 10.3% gross domestic product growth in 2021 while also saying that exports, which is a main economic growth driver, rose 13% in January. Also this past week, the President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele tweeted that El Salvador has never experienced double digit GDP growth before.
In Senator Kempis’s interview, she goes on to say that Bitcoin has altered the world’s perception of El Salvador and is likely to do the same for Mexico. “It is a historic opportunity that this type of project is being carried out in a Central American country. Every time El Salvador was discussed, it was always to address issues of migration, violence, and organized crime, and now the world’s gaze is not on those public problems, but because of this great call at a global level with Bitcoin.“
Kempis plans to draft and introduce the proposed law during this session of congress.
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