President Bukele Absent From Bitcoin 2022 Conference
With the Bitcoin 2022 Conference already ongoing in Miami, Bukele will not be present at the event. The official Twitter handle of the Bitcoin Conference shared a letter from the El Salvador President on Thursday (April 6, 2022).
Although Bukele did not state the exact reason for canceling his attendance at the Bitcoin 2022 Conference, the letter said:
“I have just made the hard decision of canceling my participation in the conference due to unforeseen circumstances in my home country that require my full presence as President of a Nation.”
Previous reports about increased gang violence in El Salvador preceded the government’s decision to declare a state of emergency on March 27. The Bitcoin 2022 Conference tweeted, “We stand in solidarity with the Salvadorian people during these difficult times.”
Bukele is the President of the first and only country to make Bitcoin legal tender, which makes him an important attendee at the conference. Interestingly, it was during last year’s Bitcoin Conference that the El Salvador President announced plans to legalize Bitcoin.
Bukele, meanwhile, was scheduled to give a speech on Thursday, April 7, with many attendees wondering what announcement the President would make this year. According to the letter:
“A lot has happened since the last conference, and it was my sincere hope to celebrate our collective victories with another announcement, another small contribution in our fight for the liberation of money, one of the pillars of modern society.”
U.S. Lawmakers Still Concerned About El Salvador’s Bitcoin Adoption
President Bukele’s inability to attend the Bitcoin Conference in the U.S. comes as Congress debates a bill that opposes El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption.
On April 4, two members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Norma Torres (D) and Rick Crawford (R), introduced a bipartisan bill called the Accountability for Cryptocurrency in El Salvador (ACES) Act.
The bill seeks to mitigate potential risks to the U.S. financial system as a result of El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption. Meanwhile, the proposal serves as a companion bill to a similar bipartisan proposal introduced to the Senate back in February.
President Bukele responded to the Senate bill at the time, accusing U.S. lawmakers of trying to interfere in El Salvador’s business.He further said that the United States had no jurisdiction to dictate or control affairs in the Central American country.
Meanwhile, Torres believes that El Salvador made the wrong move in adopting Bitcoin as legal tender. According to a statement by the congresswoman in a press release:
“El Salvador is an independent democracy, and we respect its right to self-govern, but the United States must have a plan in place to protect our financial systems from the risks of this decision, which appears to be a careless gamble rather than a thoughtful embrace of innovation.”
Whether the U.S. proves successful in its efforts to safeguard its financial system from possible ramifications associated with El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender, more immediately, Bitcoin 2022 attendees will doubtless be disappointed that President Bukele cannot attend this year.
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Regardless of U.S. action in relation to El Salvador, President Bukele is continuing to push forward with the country’s adoption of crypto. Read more about how El Salvador is actively courting crypto whales to garner support for the country’s new bitcoin bond.
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