Elon Musk, the Tesla billionaire who is one of the biggest bitcoin and crypto price influencers, has shared details of a secret meeting with El Salvador’s bitcoin-backing president Nayib Bukele.
The pair’s meeting comes as the bitcoin price is surging following a Federal Reserve bombshell that some think could kick off a new bitcoin price bull run.
Musk, who earlier this month backed a $36 trillion “by the end of 2024” warning over the spiraling interest payments on the huge U.S. national debt pile, revealed he and Bukele discussed the “future of humanity” and technology, though he didn’t mention bitcoin directly.
“Just had an excellent conversation with president Nayib Bukele,” Musk posted to X, the social media platform he bought and rebranded from Twitter.
“We talked a lot about the nature of reality, future of humanity and how technology like AI and robotics will affect the world. El Salvador has an amazing leader.”
Bukele, who made history when he adopted bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador in 2021, shared a video of his meeting with Musk, posting to X that “it was a pleasure to spend several hours talking with one of the great minds of our time.”
In the video, filmed at Tesla’s Austin headquarters, the pair can be heard discussing the future of the U.S., with Bukele predicting the country’s days could be numbered.
Last month, Bukele admitted adoption of bitcoin in El Salvador has fallen short of his expectations, telling Time “it could have worked better” but has still been a “net positive” for the country.
Alongside adopting bitcoin as legal tender, Bukele is issuing bonds backed by bitcoin mined in the country via volcano-powered computers, has introduced a citizenship-through-investment scheme for foreigners who donate bitcoin to the government and has built a bitcoin stash worth $360 million.
Musk, who was a major driver of the bitcoin and crypto market bull run in 2021, bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin via his electric car company Tesla before selling most of it to eke out a quarterly profit in 2022.
Tesla still holds almost 10,000 bitcoin and has seen the value of its bitcoin almost double to $600 million over the last three years. Musk himself has said he holds some bitcoin, ethereum and his “favorite” cryptocurrency dogecoin.
Musk, who has backed former U.S. president Donald Trump in this year’s race for the White House, has repeatedly warned over the last year that the spiraling U.S. debt pile of more than $35 trillion could “bankrupt” the country.
Earlier this month, Trump said Musk had agreed to serve as head of the Department of Government Efficiency, which Musk branded DOGE and said would be “epic.”
Trump has promised to create a U.S. bitcoin strategic reserve if reelected in November, something he claims is necessary for the U.S. to “beat China.”
This article was originally published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
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