Colombia: the new president is a Bitcoin supporter

The new President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who won the elections last Sunday, had spoken out in the past about Bitcoin, establishing himself as a supporter of the queen of crypto, as well as the underlying blockchain technology. 

Colombia’s new President is pro-Bitcoin

Gustavo Petro is the new President of Colombia and, after winning the second round of Sunday’s runoff, he is pro-Bitcoin. 

In fact, back in 2017, Petro had already expressed himself about the crypto queen on Twitter as follows: 

El bitcoin quita poder de emision a los estados y el señoreaje de la moneda a los bancos. Es una moneda comunitaria que se basa en la confianza de quienes realizan transacciones con ella, al tener como base el blockchain, la confianza se mide y crece, de ahí deriva su fortaleza https://t.co/g8cO9WfP0L

— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) December 26, 2017

“Bitcoin removes the power of issuance from the states and the seigniorage of the currency from the banks. It is a community currency that is based on the trust of those who make transactions with it, as it is based on the blockchain, trust is measured and grows, hence its strength”.

In essence, Petro had hinted that cryptocurrencies like BTC could take power away from the government and traditional banks and return it to the people.

Petro will replace Iván Duque Márquez as President of Colombia on 7 August, and will serve a four-year term. 

Gustavo Petro: “virtual currency is pure information and therefore energy”

Another speech by the new President of Colombia concerns the mining of Bitcoin. Again, it was October 2021, when Gustavo Petro posted on the social network of crypto-lovers to comment on Nayib Bukele’s choice to mine Bitcoin with geothermal energy from volcanoes. 

Here is what he said in his tweet:

¿Y que tal que el litoral pacífico aprovechara las caídas de alta pendiente de los rios de la cordillera occidental para producir toda la energía del litoral y reemplazar cocaína con la energía para las criptomonedas?

La moneda virtual es pura información y por tanto energía. https://t.co/65xdN2whuO

— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) October 2, 2021

“What if the Pacific coast were to take advantage of the steeply falling rivers of the western cordillera to produce all the energy of the coast and replace cocaine with energy for cryptocurrencies? Virtual currency is pure information and therefore energy”.

Colombia: one of the most active cryptocurrency trading nations in South America 

According to Usefultulips data, with around 52 million people living in the country, Colombia emerges as one of South America’s most active cryptocurrency trading nations. 

Not only that, last December 2021, Colombia’s main bank, Bancolombia, had entered into a partnership with Gemini, the US exchange of the Winklevoss twins.

A partnership that would have led to Colombian citizens being able to buy Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash directly from their bank. In fact, customers of Bancolombia can buy cryptocurrencies using their bank account.