Mexico’s billionaire, Ricardo Salinas Pliego, the third richest man in the country, has always supported the leading cryptocurrency, Bitcoin. He further cemented his support for Bitcoin with a tweet on June 27 pledging that his bank is developing means to fully accept Bitcoin as a legal means of payment. This is the first in Mexico and will undoubtedly help the growth of cryptocurrency in the region.
They have developed similar banking systems in other countries such as United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Estonia, Czech Republic, and Canada. Having more crypto-friendly banks will increase the ease of transactions and serve as a middle-ground solution between the traditional banking system and about-to-be-adopted cryptocurrency. It also solves the needless fear that banks might go into extinction if cryptocurrencies were to be fully adopted.
Salinas is the owner of the giant Banco Azteca banking company and currently listed as Mexico’s third wealthiest man by Forbes, with a family fortune valued at $15.8 billion. Last year, Salinas stated that Bitcoin accounted for approximately 10% of his liquid assets. Salinas is also the CEO and owner of Grupo Salinas, a Mexican corporation that includes TV Azteca, Grupo Elektra, football club Mazatlan F.C., and Banco Azteca, a significant local bank.
The billionaire has expressed his profound admiration for Bitcoin on multiple occasions and has now taken a step forward to aid its growth and adoption in Mexico with the new project. He also encouraged his Twitter audience of over 906k followers to invest more in Bitcoin.
Shortly after his tweet on Sunday, Bitcoin experienced a 4.3% surge within 24 hours. Could this extend the bullish run in the Bitcoin market? Maybe; it is too early to make any assumptions; however, projects and support from more prominent people worldwide will certainly determine the adoption of Bitcoin in the future.