Two nations which have until now maintained limited bilateral relations just grew closer, thanks to shared crypto interests.
Bilal Bin Saqib, head of Pakistan’s Crypto Council and a special advisor to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, visited El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele on 15 July to seek insights and knowledge from the much smaller country. Pakistan has a population 37 times that of El Salvador, and a land area that is 42 times larger.
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During the first ever high-level visit from a Pakistani official to the mountainous Central American country, both leaders discussed the creation of a knowledge sharing partnership, in a move which may signal a new era of crypto diplomacy.
Specifically, the Pakistani government is aiming to position an entry into crypto markets while navigating the strict restrictions of a $7 billion IMF loan, a dilemma which El Salvador has managed over the past several years.
Bukele, who has served as El Salvador’s populist president since 2019, has moved to make his country a crypto hub, filling the state’s coffers with approximately 6,238 Bitcoin, currently valued at $745 million, despite IMF requirements aimed to ostensibly limit his state-mandated crypto buying spree.
Crypto demarche
Saqib’s visit concluded with a letter of intent, which memorialized both countries’ desire to collaborate more closely around Bitcoin education, mining initiatives, national Bitcoin reserves, and broader efforts to promote financial inclusion and digital economic development.
Cryptocurrencies by their nature are decentralized and exist largely outside institutional finance. They have become increasingly popular in emerging economies.
Crypto trading remains popular in Pakistan, with Saqib noting in a recent TV interview to Bloomberg that as many as 15-20 million citizens of his country, around 8%, hold some form of cryptocurrencies.
“Bitcoin’s ability to empower people in the Global South is, I believe, going to be one of the most transformative factors in its future, offering the potential to reshape economies and create new opportunities where traditional systems have failed”, said Nigel Green, CEO of the deVere Group investment firm at a Digital Commonwealth meeting in September last year.
