According to El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, 32 central banks and 12 financial authorities from 44 countries will meet on Monday, May 16, to discuss financial inclusion, digital economy, banking the unbanked, and El Salvador’s Bitcoin rollout and its benefits for the nation.
In his tweets, the president revealed that the participants of the meeting include: the Central Bank of São Tomé and Príncipe, National Bank of Angola, Bank of Ghana, Central Bank of Paraguay, Bank of Namibia, Bank of Uganda, Central Bank of Madagascar, Central Bank of the Republic of Guinea, the Bank of the Republic of Burundi, Bank of the Republic of Haiti, Central Bank of Eswatini and its Ministry of Finance, Central Bank of The Gambia, Central Bank of Jordan, National Committee of Banks and Seguros of Honduras, Directorate General of Treasury, Ministry of Finance and Budget, Madagascar, and the Maldives Monetary Authority.
Nepal Rastra Bank, National Bank of Rwanda, Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA), Kenya, State Bank of Pakistan, Superintendency of the Popular and Solidarity Economy of Ecuador, General Superintendency of Financial Entities of Costa Rica, and Central Bank of El Salvador will also attend the meeting.
On Friday, May 13, the Bitcoin Beach’s Twitter account announced that central bankers from the following countries were boarding planes to fly to El Salvador: Armenia, Angola, Burundi, Bangladesh, Congo, Costa Rica, Egypt, Ghana, Gambia, India, Namibia, Sudan, Senegal, Uganda, and Zambia, and 25 other developing nations.
After President Bukele’s formal statement, Bitcoin Beach tweeted a globe map with nations that have either already embraced Bitcoin or are attending Monday’s summit highlighted in colour, with the caption “Probably nothing.”
A globe map with nations embracing bitcoin. Image: Bitcoin Beach
It took 12 years for the first nation to adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender and around eight months for the second. If Panama’s president passes their latest Bitcoin bill into law, they will become the third just about a month after the second country. Countries worldwide are gathering in El Salvador to touch on financial inclusion and the upsides of bitcoin adoption for their nations.