Although the newly elected Argentine president, Javier Milei, only declared victory Yesterday already did a lot with his recent stint in the global spotlight.
In this year’s election campaign, Milei proposed Legalize the sale of human children through a “free market for babies.” He also promised to reduce the Age of consent, made plans for forced labor mandate in Argentine prisons, and repeatedly tried rehabilitate ex from his country pro-nazi dictatorship. And he said a lot of this, reportedly, under telepathic advice of his dead dog, Conan.
So why are so many crypto leaders encouraging it now?
In the past day, numerous cryptocurrency heavyweights, including former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan and MicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor, publicly congratulated Milei on her shocking victory, focusing on previous pro-statements. Bitcoin from the controversial politician.
Second president of Bitcoin.
Congratulations to @JMilei on his overwhelming victory in Argentina. pic.twitter.com/CNOqFbb5Q8
– Balaji (@balajis) November 20, 2023
#Bitcoin is hope for Argentina. Congratulations @JMilei.
– Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) November 20, 2023
To industry leaders who own or control billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin, Milei’s repeated commitments to destroy Argentina’s central bank—along with the politician’s central bank approval of Bitcoin as “the return of money to its original creator”—have raised hopes that the new president could institute pro-Bitcoin policies, or even pressure Argentina to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. The Savior did in 2021.
📍 Argentina’s economy 🇦🇷 is almost 20 times larger than that of El Salvador 🇸🇻
Will #JavierMilei embrace #Bitcoin like #NayibBukele?
Don’t bet against it! pic.twitter.com/BB7f1L2m1Z
– RR2Capital (@RR2Capital) November 20, 2023
Milei, however, did not propose any policies related to Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies during his run for president, nor has he publicly mentioned cryptocurrencies since winning office.
But, fundamentally, much of the politician’s campaign rhetoric (and wear costumes) defended “anarcho-capitalism,” an ideology that called for the abolition of state governments and institutions in favor of a political sphere entirely at the whim of private capital.
This worldview appears to have resonated with many leaders in cryptocurrencies, an industry with deep connections to the libertarian movement—and caused these leaders to overlook the rest of Milei’s stated views or accept them as a package.
Argentina has a new pro-Bitcoin president: who is Javier Milei?
Ryan Selkis, Founder and CEO of a Crypto Market Intelligence Company messaricongratulated Milei on his victory last night and posted a video in which the new president of Argentina pledged to eliminate numerous departments of the Argentine government, including the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labor .
“OUTSIDE!” Selkis wrote, referring to the Spanish term for “Out!” commonly invoked by Milei. “I can’t wait to see another pragmatic young leader transform another South American country. Let’s go Milei!
OUTSIDE!
I can’t wait to see another pragmatic young leader transform another South American country.
Let’s go Milei! pic.twitter.com/UQKga5Zn4O
– Ryan Selkis (f/acc)🪳 (@twobitidiot) November 20, 2023
Minutes later, Selkis republished a video in which Milei ranted that the Argentine right was in an existential life-or-death struggle against the left, in which the aesthetics and morals of the right must triumph. Such invocations are not without context in Argentina; Similar rhetoric was central to the wave of anti-communist mass murders that defined Argentina’s fascist dictatorship of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
There are other signs that Milei’s rise may not generate an anti-government libertarian utopia. The president-elect has committed, for example, to establishing a national committee surveillance network with cameras which uses facial recognition technology to track Argentine citizens.
NEWS: Pro-#Bitcoin Javier Milei wins Argentina’s presidential election. $BTC is up 2.3% to $37,326 today following the news.
See price chart ➡️ https://t.co/LrE9BNTWaE pic.twitter.com/JPuiVbmkDO
– CoinGecko (@coingecko) November 20, 2023
Opposition to mass government surveillance has long been a central pillar of the value of cryptocurrencies for many defenders. Now, however, the prospect of incremental gains for Bitcoin’s price and position may trump other industry priorities, at least for some Bitcoiners.
Edited by Andrew Hayward.
