(Author’s Note: Herein To takeI offer an interpretation of recent events in Guatemala through the lens of someone on the ground in the country.)
The X-bill for El Salvador is due on November 10th Bitcoin office posted the following meme:
It seemed innocent enough. I know I didn’t think too much of it when I came across it. I remember laughing when I saw it and then just going about my day.
However, a week ago a colleague of mine, a prominent Guatemalan Bitcoiner, shared with me that the meme went viral in Guatemala. And not just a bunch of viral retweets – more like a wildfire viral.
Many Guatemalans, especially Guatemalan Bitcoiners, are fans of Bukele. So when the Bitcoin Office jokingly flagged that Bukele was considering buying Guatemala, the reaction from many in the country was essentially “good.”
This put those in power in the country on their heels, leading to senior figures in the Guatemalan government and Guatemala’s central bank investigating Bitcoin.
My source tells me it is possible that this could lead to the Guatemalan government and central bank recognizing the value of Bitcoin and providing appropriate guidance to banks and other institutions that want to keep the assets on their balance sheets.
I plan to speak to more people on the ground in the coming weeks to provide more substantive reporting.
This article is a To take. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.