Mexican senator will introduce cryptocurrency legislation: ‘We need Bitcoin as legal tender’

Indira Kempis, a senator from Mexico’s Nuevo León state, is working on a crypto law modelled after El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law.

In the midst of El Salvador reporting on the good effect of the nation’s Bitcoin (BTC) adoption, a Mexican government official has once again encouraged the country to follow El Salvador’s lead on Bitcoin.

Indira Kempis, a senator from Nuevo León state, believes Bitcoin should be legal cash in Mexico because its acceptance might advance global financial inclusivity.

The senator is now working on a cryptocurrency law modelled after El Salvador’s “Bitcoin Law.”

Kempis stated in an interview with El Salvador In English after visiting El Salvador a few weeks ago that she hopes to propose the law to the Mexican Congress this year.

“It is apparent to me that financial exclusion is one of the public concerns that few of us have addressed with viable alternatives,” Kempis said. “This sort of technology is enabling us to build an alternative so that millions of individuals may be included in the financial system.”

The senator went on to remark that Bitcoin adoption represents a historic opportunity for governments throughout the globe to solve problems such as inequality and attain financial inclusion.

“We need Bitcoin to be legal tender in Mexico, because if it is not so, if we do not make that decision as El Salvador did, it is very difficult to take action.”

The senator further said that Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele may have initiated a Bitcoin revolution that may spread to other nations. “Making Bitcoin legal tender implies leveling the playing field for individuals who are excluded in practically every country,” she continued.

Kempis, who took office in 2018, has been aggressively pushing the cryptocurrency business in recent years, joining the laser eyes movement in July 2018. The senator said that she has been involved in the cryptocurrency business for years, surrounded by a network of crypto entrepreneurs, developers, and aficionados, and that “now that I am engaging in politics, I wish to promote it.”

Other Mexican senators, like Eduardo Murat Hinojosa, were working on crypto-friendly legislation immediately after the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly enacted the Bitcoin Law in early June 2021, as previously reported. In October, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that the nation will not follow El Salvador’s lead and make Bitcoin official money.

The newest announcement comes as the cryptocurrency business gains traction in Mexico, with major global crypto exchange Coinbase recently allowing quick crypto withdrawals into Mexican pesos.

Last Friday, Ricardo Salinas Pliego, the Mexican billionaire businessman and founder of Grupo Salinas, came to Twitter to advise the public to acquire Bitcoin and “forget about selling.” He earlier recommended people to purchase BTC in late 2021, referring to fiat currencies such as dollars and euros as “fake money made of paper falsehoods.”