Max Keiser Walks Back Bid to Get Bukele and Argentina’s Milei to Talk BTC

Last updated: November 26, 2023 23:23 EST
. 2 min read

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The flags of Argentina and El Salvador. — Source: Oleksii/Adobe

The bitcoiner Max Keiser has apparently retracted his bid to get El Salvador President Nayib Bukele and Argentina’s President-elect Javier Milei to talk BTC.

Keiser last week took to X (formerly Twitter) to publicly ask Bukele for permission for the El Salvador Bitcoin “team” to invite Milei to San Salvador.

When asked why Keiser would need to seek Bukele’s “permission” to invite Milei to his adoptive country, the American bitcoiner wrote that it was a matter of “protocol.”

The Salvadoran President has still not responded to the request at the time of writing.

Keiser is working as a “senior advisor” to the El Salvador leader on BTC-related matters.

Another bitcoiner noted that Bukele – once so vocal about his Bitcoin adoption plans – has recently changed his tack on social media.

@nayibbukele has been kind of quiet about bitcoin lately

— Mikey (@OrangePartyHat3) November 19, 2023

However, Bukele took the time on November 27 to repost a picture of a Bukele t-shirt- and cap-sporting supporter, along with Keiser’s wife and fellow bitcoiner Stacy Herbert.

Max and I had a great time at the ⁦@Bitcoin_CLT⁩ meetup talking about early bitcoin, $20 million dollar alpaca socks, El Salvador and Renaissance 2.0

And this guy tells me that #Bukele2024 is leading the polls in Charlotte, NC 🧢🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/Jl5Zcw5Pzy

— Stacy Herbert 🇸🇻🚀 (@stacyherbert) November 27, 2023

Keiser later appeared ready to temper his expectations, writing of the need to ensure that El Salvador becomes “Bitcoin country.”

He suggested that “trying to get Argentina up to speed” could end up “diluting efforts” to keep his adoptive nation “shitcoin-free.”

Makes more sense to focus on making #ElSalvador #BITCOIN COUNTRY (and shitcoin free) than diluting efforts by trying to get Argentina up to speed. I think Argentina may need to truly hit rock fiat bottom first before they’re ready.

— Max Keiser (@maxkeiser) November 26, 2023

Just How Bitcoin-keen Are Bukele and Milei?

Bukele is aiming to make history by running for re-election in next year’s presidential elections.

The BTC-keen President, whose government adopted Bitcoin as legal tender in 2021, successfully changed the constitution to allow him to run in 2024.

Previously, Salvadoran law dictated that presidents could only serve one term in office.

But Bukele’s sky-high popularity has shown no sign of wavering following the legal change, although the leader has slowed down his government’s controversial BTC-buying policies.

Keiser was apparently hopeful that Milei and Bukele would find common ground on the subject of Bitcoin.

Milei has praised Bitcoin in the past and has spoken about plans to abolish his nation’s fiat peso.

Ona TV show in the run-up to his election, he destoryed a piñata representation of the Argentine Central Bank.

However, the two men may find themselves at loggerheads: While Bukele appears keen to de-dollarize his nation’s economy, Milei wants to do the opposite.

The Argentine President-elect says he plans to dollarize the country in the next few years, despite critics’ claims that the idea is implausible.

Some leading Argentine political figures have tried to convince Milei to turn his back on the USD, however, and embrace BTC instead.

Milei swept to victory in the presidential election run-off vote last week, scooping 55% of the vote, 3 million more than his opponent, the economy minister Sergio Massa.