Key Takeaways:
- In a tweet on Wednesday evening, Mexico confirms plans to roll out CBDCs in 2024.
- The plans for a CBDC follow President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s recent statement that Mexico will not follow El Salvador’s lead and use cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender.
In a tweet on Wednesday evening, the Mexican government confirmed that the Central Bank of Mexico (Banxico) plans to launch a CBDC by 2024. According to the tweet, which was written in Spanish, Banxico “will have a digital currency of its own in circulation” by 2024 as it considers of “utmost importance these new technologies and state-of-the-art payment infrastructure as options of great value to advance financial inclusion in the country.”
The plans for a CBDC follow President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s recent statement that Mexico will not follow El Salvador’s lead and use cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender. The majority of CBDCs are backed by their respective country’s native currency, which the Mexican crypto community appears to be wary of. One of Mexico’s wealthiest men is a bitcoin zealot. At least two Mexican lawmakers have proposed that the country embrace digital assets to lead the “shift to crypto and fintech.”
Ricardo Salinas Pliego, a billionaire and one of Mexico’s wealthiest men. The billionaire recently asked his 957,200 Twitter followers to leave fiat money behind and invest in BTC in a two-minute festive video, asking them to retweet and share the message.
Salinas said that “Stay away from fiat money. The dollar, the euro, the yen, or the peso, they are all the same story. It’s fake money made of paper and lies. The central banks are printing more money than ever before. Invest in bitcoin”.
Ricardo Salinas Pliego’s name has remained in crypto-related headlines because of his consistent pro-crypto efforts. Elektra, a Mexican retail behemoth owned by Salinas, became the first retail store in Mexico to accept Bitcoin payments earlier this month. Elektra also offered a 20% discount to customers who used bitcoin to purchase to increase the number of Bitcoin payments.
Ricardo’s contributions to the adoption of bitcoin in Mexico have always been noteworthy. He also revealed earlier this year that his bank, Banco Azteca, was the first in Mexico to accept Bitcoin. Ricardo, who owns a significant amount of bitcoin, claims it has global value and should be included in everyone’s financial portfolio.
Although many public and private sectors support crypto, authorities in the country claimed in 2020 that cartels were using digital currencies to launder money. With the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies around the world, it’s no surprise that governments worldwide, including Mexico, are considering forming a CBDC.
