{"id":27746,"date":"2025-05-20T18:46:50","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T18:46:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=27746"},"modified":"2025-05-20T18:46:50","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T18:46:50","slug":"bitcoin-is-becoming-a-key-election-issue-in-chiles-2025-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=27746","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin Is Becoming A Key Election Issue In Chile\u2019s 2025 Race"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bitcoin\u2019s environmental and macro-economic implications have vaulted the cryptocurrency from a niche policy matter into the thick of Chile\u2019s presidential race, with advisers to every major contender treating the asset\u2014and the mining industry that underpins it\u2014as a potential vote-winner rather than a liability.<\/p>\n

Bitcoin Emerges As A 2025 Election Issue In Chile<\/h2>\n

New Zealand-based ClimateTech venture capitalist Daniel Batten told<\/a> his followers on X that \u201cBitcoin is shaping as an election issue for Chile in 2025.\u201d He added that after meetings on both sides of the aisle, no serious candidate now opposes the technology, because \u201cbeing against Bitcoin is like being against the Internet: political suicide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Behind Batten\u2019s assessment stands a two-year, largely low-profile lobbying campaign led by Chilean software-engineer-turned-policy-advocate Andr\u00e9s Villagr\u00e1n. Since 2023 Villagr\u00e1n has shepherded US strategist Dennis Porter<\/a>, chief executive of the Satoshi Action Fund, through committee rooms in Santiago and regional capitals, pitching Bitcoin mining as an antidote to the country\u2019s worsening renewable-energy curtailment problem. In a post on 18 May he reported \u201cGreat progress in Chile this week! Met w\/ presidential candidates on Bitcoin & its role in clean energy\/efficiency. Pushing for inclusion in programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Villagr\u00e1n\u2019s talking points resonate with legislators drafting a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR) bill\u2014legislation that would authorise the Central Bank to hold Bitcoin alongside gold and foreign currency. \u201cIn 2023 I embarked on an incredible journey\u2026 meeting over 20 parliamentarians and several ministers,\u201d he wrote earlier this year<\/a>, stressing that additional sessions with the Ministry of Finance are planned for the second half of the year.<\/p>\n

Porter reinforced the message last week in a 40-minute keynote at the Chile Fintech Forum 2025, calling curtailment \u201ca crisis\u201d that wastes six terawatt-hours of solar and wind annually. \u201cWhen you combine variable renewable generation with a variable load like Bitcoin mining, you can absolutely and completely eliminate curtailment,\u201d he told the audience, arguing that miners\u2019 ability to power down on demand makes them grid-stabilising<\/a> rather than parasitic.<\/p>\n

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\"\u26a1\" @Dennis_Porter_<\/a> en #ChileFintechForum2025<\/a>: la miner\u00eda de Bitcoin puede revolucionar nuestro sistema energ\u00e9tico. Env\u00eda este video a los pol\u00edticos y exige que prioricen esto. Llevamos bastante tiempo junto a Dennis informando a Ministerios, Diputados y Senadores de Bitcoin \"\ud83d\ude80\" pic.twitter.com\/UStgKda93e<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Andr\u00e9s Villagr\u00e1n \"\ud83c\udf33\"\"\u26a1\" (@avillagran) May 15, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The political class has taken notice. According to campaign aides with knowledge of the briefings, both Jos\u00e9 Antonio Kast of the right-wing Republican Party and Evelyn Matthei of the centre-right Chile Vamos coalition\u2014currently tied at 17% in the latest Cadem survey\u2014now frame Bitcoin as a competitiveness issue rather than a speculative bubble. On the left, the Unity for Chile pact has slated a 29 June primary featuring Carolina Toh\u00e1, Gonzalo Winter, Jeannette Jara and Jaime Mulet, none of whom has ruled out Bitcoin-linked energy policy.<\/p>\n

With opinion polling still volatile six months before the 16 November first round, campaign strategists say the debate could crystallise on 20 June, when the first nationally televised candidates\u2019 forum is expected to devote a segment to energy pricing and digital assets. Villagr\u00e1n confirms that at least one contender has already pledged on the record to raise Bitcoin mining that night.<\/p>\n

Whether the SBR bill advances before the election remains uncertain; the Central Bank\u2019s board has warned of \u201cvolatility and liquidity concerns\u201d under IMF reserve-management rules, and President Gabriel Boric\u2019s administration has maintained public neutrality. Yet the political cost\u2013benefit has shifted. As Batten put it, Chilean politicians have \u201clearnt from the Democrats\u2019 debacle in the US\u201d and are determined not to be caught on the wrong side of a technology that many voters now equate with innovation, cheap power and macro-hedging.<\/p>\n

If that calculation holds, November\u2019s ballot could mark the first time in Latin America that a major economy heads to the polls with every viable presidential programme containing a chapter on Bitcoin\u2014an outcome that may matter as much to the global energy debate as to the future of digital money.<\/p>\n

At press time, BTC traded at $105,385.<\/p>\n

\"Bitcoin<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin\u2019s environmental and macro-economic implications have vaulted the cryptocurrency from a niche policy matter into the thick of Chile\u2019s presidential race, with advisers to every major contender treating the asset\u2014and the mining industry that underpins it\u2014as a potential vote-winner rather than a liability. Bitcoin Emerges As A 2025 Election Issue In Chile New Zealand-based ClimateTech […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,4,5],"class_list":["post-27746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-crypto","tag-doge","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27746\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}