Mexican Billionaire Bank Owner: "Will Be Mexico's First Bank to Accept Bitcoin"

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jaehee] Ricardo Salinas Pliego, a Mexican billionaire who owns Azteca Bank, revealed that his bank is working to accept Bitcoin, Bloomberg reported on the 28th.

According to the report, in a reply to a tweet by Michael Saylor, CEO of the U.S. software company MicroStrategy, he stated, "I encourage the use of Bitcoin," and added, "My bank and I are striving to become the first bank in Mexico to accept Bitcoin."

CEO Saylor quoted a video of Salinas in his tweet, in which Salinas said that Bitcoin should be included in every investor's portfolio and criticized fiat currency as a "scam."

Earlier, Salinas had revealed that about 10% of his liquid investment assets were held in Bitcoin.

Salinas is the third richest person in Mexico and owns retailers, banks, and broadcasting companies.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, his fortune is $15.8 billion (approximately 17.8303 trillion KRW), having increased by about $2.8 billion this year alone.

Meanwhile, according to the cryptocurrency site Coindesk, Bitcoin was trading at around $34,500 per coin as of 9:55 a.m. Korean time on the day, up about 7% compared to 24 hours earlier.

Bitcoin prices, which exceeded $64,000 in April, plunged sharply from last month due to regulations in China and other countries, recently even falling below the $30,000 level at one point.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.