President Nayib Bukele’s promotion of Bitcoin as legal tender was described as a rebranding effort by his advisors, according to a TIME reporter. The campaign focused on boosting his image rather than significantly changing El Salvador's economy.
Bukele’s Bitcoin Push Labeled a PR Move
The TIME Magazine reporter who interviewed El Salvador President Nayib Bukele for the first time in three years stated that his desire for Bitcoin as legal cash was more about image than substance, Cointelegraph shares.
According to Vera Bergengruen's interview with Crooked Media's Pod Save the World, which was released on September 11, Bukele's advisors described El Salvador's adoption of Bitcoin as a "great rebranding" and "complete PR [public relations] move."
Public Relations Background Shapes Bukele's Policies
Bukele entered politics, serving as mayor of Nuevo Cuscatlán, San Salvador, and El Salvador, after a brief stint at the helm of his family's public relations agency.
"I think the most important thing […] is his past as a publicist," Bergengruen stated of Bukele. "It’s important to understand from Bitcoin to the war on the gangs, everything he does he’s kind of image first, results later oriented."
She went on to say:
“[Bitcoin] was never really meant to be adopted to really change Salvadorans’ economic situation.”
First Public Declaration on Bitcoin Sparks Backtracking
Bergengruen claims that this was El Salvador's first public and industry declaration about Bitcoin, forcing Bukele's team to "backtrack" and highlight the cryptocurrency's possible advantages, such as international transfers.
"It was chaos from the start, but they needed to kind of at least pretend that it was really going to help El Salvador," Bergengruen said. “It was very obvious that it was kind of for tourists, for foreigners, for [Bukele] to have something to talk about that changes the narrative. If that was the goal, they have been successful.”