A Pacific Island nation has adopted a pro-Bitcoin prime minister.
Tongan native Lord Fusitu’a assumed office on 24 December and tweeted support for Fiji’s Bitcoin adoption. In the recent past, Tonga set new regional records by using Bitcoin as a legal tender.
According to the new prime minister, he believes that “Fiji can do bitcoin legal tender like Tonga” and that there would be two “Legal Tender Bills for the Pacific in 2023.”
Due to economical and geographical differences, Tonga and Fiji face challenges to building their economies and national development agendas. Bitcoin adoption aims to boost financial inclusivity to eliminate high poverty, crime, and fossil fuel reliance rates.
Similar countries such as El Salvador and the Central African Republic (CAR) have passed similar measures for crypto to become a nationally-recognised legal tender.
One of the advantages to Fiji is its use of geothermal and volcanic power, which the nation can use for its Bitcoin mining activities, offering a competitive advantage over Tonga.
Lord Fusitu’a continued: “Like Tonga, how to do nationalized Bitcoin mining, specifically how we were going to do geothermal volcano mining so they could both do the same but also make use of their massive hydro and other renewable stranded energy they have, which we don’t.”
The news comes amid the archipelagic country’s National Development Plans to provide only renewable energy to all islands by 2030. The country must generate an additional 120 megawatts to reach its goal, which authorities aim to achieve with Bitcoin mining.
