Mexican billionaire encourages Twitter followers to invest in Bitcoin

Bitcoin • December 27, 2021, 6:39PM EST
The Block

Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego recently encouraged followers in a holiday Twitter greeting to avoid fiat and invest in bitcoin. 

"Stay away from fiat money," Salinas said in a Spanish-language video posted to Twitter on Dec. 24. "The dollar, the euro, the yen, the peso — all are the same story. It's fake money [made] of paper lies, and the central banks are producing more money than ever. Invest in Bitcoin." 

THE SCOOP

Keep up with the latest news, trends, charts and views on crypto and DeFi with a new biweekly newsletter from The Block's Frank Chaparro

By signing-up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
By signing-up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

This isn't the first time that Salinas, Mexico's third-richest billionaire according to Forbes, has promoted the use of bitcoin. Salinas tweeted on Dec. 16 that retailer Grupo Elektra, one of the companies belonging to his conglomerate Grupo Salinas, would accept bitcoin as payment. 

Salinas also tweeted in June that he recommended the use of Bitcoin and was working to make his bank, Banco Azteca, the first in Mexico to accept it. But that goal remains to be seen. Mexico's central bank promptly issued a statement the next day saying that virtual assets like bitcoin are not legal tender and that financial institutions were not authorized to offer crypto transactions. 

About Author

Kristin Majcher is a senior correspondent at The Block, based in Colombia. She covers the Latin America market. Before joining, she worked as a freelancer with bylines in Fortune, Condé Nast Traveler and MIT Technology Review among other publications.