According to a tweet from El Salvador’s Ambassador to the United States, Milena Mayorga, a meeting took place between her, other representatives of El Salvador and the Deputy Secretary of the Government of Texas, Joe Esparza. “We discussed the opening of the second Bitcoin embassy and the expansion of commercial and economic exchange projects,” Mayorga said, also noting that “In 2022, El Salvador and the State of Texas had a commercial exchange of $1,244,636,983.”
This week, Milena Mayorga, the Salvadoran ambassador to the U.S., discussed her recent meeting with Texas Secretary of State Joe Esparza. Mayorga stated that government officials were considering the possibility of opening a second bitcoin embassy in the state. She noted that discussions had already taken place with authorities from Lugano, Switzerland about a similar bitcoin embassy concept.
“The state of Texas, our new ally,” Mayorga tweeted. “In my meeting with the deputy secretary of the Government of Texas, Joe Esparza … We discussed the opening of the second [bitcoin] embassy, and the expansion of commercial and economic exchange projects.”
The Salvadoran ambassador’s proposal comes after El Salvador’s approval of the Digital Assets Issuance Law in January 2023 and a recent mission statement on El Salvador’s economy by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF noted that El Salvador had managed to avoid cryptocurrency-related risks due to the slow and tepid adoption of bitcoin in the country. This development also follows comments by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele regarding disinformation in the media.
El Salvador has already reached beyond its borders to push for bitcoin adoption. Mayorga in October said it planned a bitcoin office in Lugano, Switzerland for the countries to work together on initiatives “to drive the adoption of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies,” in their respective regions. El Salvador as of November 2022 had purchased 2,381 bitcoin. At Wednesday’s price around $23,056, the country’s holding was worth about $55 million.
Additionally, the country has started creating the first sovereign debt securities backed by Bitcoin since that time. Furthermore, the government is the home for several projects that exclusively work with Bitcoin. A new link between Texas and Central America has been made possible by the new Bitcoin embassy effort.
However, the IMF issued a warning regarding using Bitcoin in El Salvador due to the speculative nature of the crypto market when it delivered its final report on the El Salvadorian economy on February 10, 2023. “Risks should be handled,” it added.
According to the IMF, El Salvador’s economy had struggled since September 2021, when bitcoin was approved as legal cash. The International Monetary Fund also suggested El Salvador rethink its decision because of the legal and financial issues surrounding the issuance of tokenized bonds.
El Salvador had bought 2,381 bitcoins by November 2022. As of Wednesday’s price of around $23,056, the country’s holding was around $55 million. In November, Bloomberg calculated that the government had paid around $105 million in cryptocurrency based on its analysis on the tweets of El Salvador President Nayib Bukele.
Bitcoin’s value has fallen from a November 2021 high of $69,000, but it has recovered at least during the crypto winter that has brought down most cryptocurrency prices. Bitcoin has jumped nearly 40% so far in 2023 after losing nearly 60% of its value in 2022.
