Exploring Bitcoin Collaboration between El Salvador and Argentina

It takes more than 10 hours to fly from El Salvador to Argentina, but Juan Carlos Reyes’ recent flight may be one of the most important of his life.

It may also have global significance, not that Reyes can reveal too much about it at the moment.

• The appointed President of El Salvador’s newly created National Commission of Digital Assets (CNAD), Reyes has just returned from Buenos Aires after high-level meetings with Argentina’s securities regulator, the National Securities Commission.
• Speaking exclusively to Magazine, he is in a cheery mood, albeit diplomatic, when talking of a potential collaboration between the two Bitcoin-friendly countries.

“El Salvador multinational projects are set by the president; however, our two countries are talking about interesting opportunities and projects for the future. There is a lot of interest in common between our institutions and between the leaders of our nations, so I can say that you should stay tuned,” he says.

Let it not be forgotten that before El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as legal tender in September 2021, it was Argentina that seemed the most receptive and interested in Bitcoin, not least because of the country’s seemingly omnipresent inflation rate.

• According to Statista, the peso’s inflation rate for 2024 is a whopping 250% and has been rising annually for the past seven years from 25% in 2017.
• In October 2011, under the presidency of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentina introduced strict currency controls, making it very difficult for citizens to obtain U.S. dollars, the go-to hedge against the Argentine peso’s inflation.

Reyes was orange-pilled in 2013

For CNAD President Reyes, who was introduced to Bitcoin in 2013, it was a mission that he had been on from an early age.

“When I found out about Bitcoin, I immediately fell in love with the technology and could see the potential it had, having closely followed adoption and preaching to anyone that would listen about its transformative powers.”

“Since 2018, I took on a serious position on the technology and started incorporating it into my professional life,” he says.

El Salvador has not historically been known for its progressive approach. When Reyes’ parents emigrated to Canada in 1990, the country had been in external and internal wars for 30 years.

“I was very young when I left El Salvador. For me, the chance to come back and be part of the vision our president has set out is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to contribute to building the country where I was born.”

“I am grateful that I grew up in Canada, where the culture is more tolerant of diversity, so keeping to our Salvadoran customs was fairly easy. Most of our families are very religious, so praying, going to church and eating pupusas always played a big part in my upbringing as a child.”

For those unacquainted with Salvadoran food, pupusas are griddle cakes or flatbreads made from corn flour. They are a Salvadoran national dish that is apparently best eaten with cheese.