“Maya Parbho, a candidate for the presidency of the South American republic of Suriname in the 2025 elections, has announced plans to recognize Bitcoin as legal tender and transfer the country’s financial infrastructure to the blockchain. On May 25 – 2025, 6 months from now, the people of Suriname will have a clear choice to… > End systemic corruption> Embrace a full Bitcoin standard> Become truly independent […]”, — write: businessua.com.ua
Maya Parbho, candidate for president of the South American republic of Suriname in the 2025 elections, announced plans to recognize Bitcoin as legal tender and transfer the country’s financial infrastructure to the blockchain.
On May 25 – 2025, 6 months from now, the people of Suriname will have a clear choice to…
> End systemic corruption
> Embrace a full Bitcoin standard
> Become truly independentMany countries will follow.
Nothing stops this train🚉🫶 https://t.co/QR1b6tbJGr pic.twitter.com/xYCxJfYFmN
— Maya Parbhoe (@MayaPar25) November 25, 2024
Parbho is the CEO of fintech company Daedalus Labs, developer of a solution based on Bitcoin and NOSTR. In an interview with Cointelegraph, she stated that she became interested in cryptocurrencies 10 years ago, and since then she has come to the conclusion that Suriname’s financial infrastructure is inefficient. As an example, she noted that Central Bank employees used an Excel spreadsheet to determine the exchange rate.
“We need to create an alternative in which we do not face the same problems, but take as a basis the work of Satoshi Nakamoto and build a new system,” said Parbho.
Another significant reason for the integration of digital gold into the state financial system, she called the prevalence of corruption in the country.
According to her, the idea to go into politics came from bitcoin maximalist Samson Mou. He assisted the Salvadoran authorities with the integration of the first cryptocurrency.
In May 2023, at a conference in Florida, Parbho suggested that Mou apply the experience of El Salvador’s bitcoin transformation to Suriname. However, the initiative encountered a corruption component.
Suriname’s Bitcoin TransformationThe plan announced as part of her election campaign includes, in particular:
- elimination of the central bank;
- adoption of bitcoin as a national currency;
- creation of stock markets on the blockchain;
- introduction of bitcoin bonds to stimulate growth;
- development of a regulatory framework that will ensure market stability and investor protection.
For the implementation of reforms, the candidate proposes to make changes to the constitution that will allow the organization of decentralized management.
According to Parbho, a national economy based on Bitcoin will be more efficient and fully transparent, which will make life difficult for corrupt people and contribute to economic growth:
“Corruption is destroying this country and blocking billions of dollars in investment, hindering development.”
According to her campaign materials, as a result, the citizens of Suriname will receive a transparent government, better public services and more leverage over the country’s future.
The precedent of El Salvador: realityIn 2021, El Salvador recognized Bitcoin as a legal means of payment and launched a series of reforms to integrate the first cryptocurrency with the national economy. At the time, experts suggested that it would not lead to noticeable changes, especially for ordinary citizens, but would set an important precedent for other countries.
According to the president of El Salvador and the initiator of blockchain reforms, Nayib Bukele, after three years, the results of the initiative remain mixed:
“It was certainly possible to do much more. Bitcoin didn’t get the widespread adoption we hoped it would.”
According to a survey by the University of Francisco Gavidia, 58% of Salvadorans support the government’s course, but only 7.5% use bitcoins for transactions.
On the other hand, potential risks to financial stability were not realized due to the size of the economy and the limited effect of the reforms.
“I feel that maybe it could have worked better and we still have some improvements to make. But it did not lead to anything negative. On the contrary, it gave us branding, brought investments and tourism,” commented Bukele.
Despite the fact that the changes were insufficient, the head of state still believes that the integration of bitcoin at the state level gave a positive result:
“We saw only advantages. As much as I would like? No. Did it bring something bad? No. So, it’s a positive in its purest form.”
We will remind, in May, Cathy Wood predicted a 10-fold increase in El Salvador’s GDP thanks to the first cryptocurrency.
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