Ricardo Pliego: It's Time to Buy Bitcoin
Bitcoin has been trapped in the doldrums as of late, but the currency is still on the radar of several institutional investors such as Ricardo Salinas Pliego, a Mexican billionaire who is working with his bank to become the first Mexican financial institution to accept the world’s number one digital currency by market cap.
Mexican Billionaire Pliego Plays the BTC Horn
Over the weekend, Pliego tweeted the following:
Me and my bank are working to be the first bank in Mexico to accept #Bitcoin… I think that any investor should start learning about cryptocurrencies and their future. @BancoAzteca, we are working to bring them to our clients.
Banks and cryptocurrencies have not always been on the best of terms. It is widely assumed that many banks have been threatened by crypto given that they are largely decentralized and take third parties out of the picture. Without control over their clients’ money, banks really have no place in the financial world, and thus they are likely worried about being knocked to the side or becoming obsolete altogether if cryptocurrencies become too big for their britches.
However, over the past year, several banks – in a potential attempt to remain relevant – have worked to provide crypto-related services and custody options to their clients. Realizing how popular they are, many have sought to cross the bridge into digital financial territory and are now looking to provide digital currencies to all their customers, though there is still a way to go in this department.
Pliego is the chairman of Banco Azteca’s parent company, which is known as Grupo Salinas SA de CV. He boasts a net worth of approximately $15.8 billion at press time and owns a wide array of businesses including retail outlets, banking institutions and broadcasting stations. He also works closely with Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
His first tweet was followed up with a second message that showed the price of a cup of coffee rising. Clearly taking aim at present inflation rates, Pliego stated that the dollar had allegedly robbed people of their buying power, and that the time to invest in bitcoin had arrived. He said:
The dollar has quietly robbed you of your purchasing power since 1913. Buy bitcoin!
A Series of Recent Losses
Bitcoin has been on a serious decline over the past two months. After reaching a new all-time high of approximately $64,000 per unit in mid-April of 2021, the currency was marred by the likes of Elon Musk, who stated that he would not allow Tesla to accept bitcoin-based purchases given that he was concerned about the mining process and the amount of energy it used.
This was followed up by a secondary message on social media, in which the South African entrepreneur hinted that he was looking to potentially part with his private bitcoin stash.
Source: Read Full Article