El Salvador has become something of a major talking point in the crypto and blockchain community for the past year, being the first country to accept Bitcoin as legal tender. However, that’s not all, as El Salvador has continued to make impressive strides within the space, from being one of the first to instate a virtual wallet (Chivo Wallet) to working on creating a Bitcoin City (you heard right, a city – at the base of a volcano, no less).
Suffice to say, crypto enthusiasts would be eager to meet up and chat with El Salvadoran officials, and that’s exactly what the Australian Bitcoin Industry Body (ABIB) did.
Australian Bitcoin Industry Body x El Salvador
Earlier in February, the Australian Bitcoin Industry Body (ABIB) tweeted out plans to hold a video meeting with Werner Matías Romero, Ambassador of El Salvador to Australia, and Eduardo Garcia, Director of Economic Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador among others.
According to the tweet, the main discussion points of the meeting would be regarding Bitcoin adoption, learnings from the legal tender process, along with future plans of both ELS and ABIB and possible cooperative opportunities. In an interview with Crypto News Australia prior to the meeting, ABIB’s Ethan Timor (Managing Director of ABIB) had this to say:
“ABIB’s members and sponsors are thrilled to have the opportunity to meet with El Salvador’s representatives to discuss their historic Bitcoin legal tender adoption. One of our stated objectives is to advance Bitcoin adoption within Australia, and having an opportunity to meet with those at the forefront of Bitcoin innovation is invaluable to our mission. We are excited to learn about their experiences and how we can collaborate with them in the future.”
Who is ABIB?
As per their mission statement, ABIB aims to serve as a voice for the Aussie Bitcoin industry. Interestingly enough, they make it a point to specify that they seek only to advocate for Bitcoin adoption and acceptance, and only Bitcoin. On this note, Ethan Timo has been quoted saying that “many cryptocurrencies have absolutely no utility, no purpose and are more often than not, designed to entrap inexperienced investors”.
This sets them apart from other local organisations like Blockchain Australia, and unlike the latter, they’ve made it clear one of the purposes of the ABIB is to dispel and correct any misleading information in the media regarding Bitcoin – something that a broader-focused entity would be unable to adequately do.
A busy month for El Salvador
February’s no doubt a busy month for El Salvador, as just weeks after ABIB’s video meeting, the founders of CryptoWorldCon (a mega crypto conference held in Miami focused around cutting-edge trends in crypto) would travel to El Salvador to meet with the El Salvadoran President, Doctor Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez.
This meeting took place on February 17 in Ortez’s presidential palace in El Salvador, with the two parties discussing opportunities around forming commercial alliances, the development of crypto and blockchain projects, along with possibly collaborating in the process of the launch of the aforementioned Bitcoin City.