Prominent Bitcoin BTC/USD bull Max Keiser said that El Salvador under President Nayib Bukele was achieving the ‘American Dream' with the help of the apex cryptocurrency.
What happened: During an interview with Fox Business Monday, Keiser, who serves as the senior Bitcoin adviser to the El Salvador president’s office, highlighted several achievements of the Bukele administration.
"More people are going to El Salvador than the other way around. We have economic freedom here, freedom of speech. The economy is growing, we're paying down our debt, and inflation is under 1%," Keiser stated.
Keiser added that El Salvador was now the safest country in the Western Hemisphere. "You have a greater risk of getting mugged in Disneyland than getting attacked here in El Salvador."
Singing praises for Bukele, Keiser called the president "decisive, courageous, and charismatic" and lauded his efforts in bringing peace to the country by cracking down on gangs.
On his views on Donald Trump's pro-Bitcoin campaign, Keiser said, "America is doing a good job imitating El Salvador."
He said that El Salvador is the "Bitcoin country," having made the leading cryptocurrency legal tender in 2021 and now building capital markets on top of it.
Why It Matters: Keiser's remarks come in the wake of surging approval ratings for President Bukele, surpassing those of leaders like India's Narendra Modi and Russia's Vladimir Putin.
According to data from the World Bank, El Salvador’s economy has seen some growth and improvement under President Bukele but also faced challenges.
While GDP grew 3.5% in 2023, recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, about around 10% of the population was estimated to be living in extreme poverty. The public debt exceeded 84% of GDP in 2023.
The country's record on freedom of speech remained debatable. El Salvador was ranked 133rd out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index 2024, down 18 places from the previous year's rankings.
Image Credits – Shutterstock
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