El Salvador President Nayib Bukele has onboarded Saiffedean Ammous – author of The Bitcoin Standard – as an Economic Advisor to the National Bitcoin Office of El Salvador.
In his role, the author will “advise on matters related to various economic policies,” while supporting Bukele’s policy of “economic liberty and bitcoin,” according to a Bitcoin office statement.
President Bukele met with the Ammous last week to discuss range of topics including “economics, hydroponics, cattle breeding, urban planning,” according to a retweeted Twitter post from the author’s account.
According to the National Bitcoin Office, Ammous also lectured students of El Salvador’s Bitcoin and Lightning developer program, Cubo+, during his stay.
“As an Austrian economist, best-selling author & well-known bitcoiner Saifedean will make a great addition to President Bukele’s bitcoin team,” stated the office on Tuesday.
Austrian economics is a school of thought that advocates for little to no government intervention in the economy, and allowing the free market to determine the price of goods and services. This contrasts with the “Keynesian” school of economics taught in most Universities today, which advocates for government intervention through monetary and fiscal policy to stimulate the economy.
In The Bitcoin Standard, Saifedean makes the case for why the world would fare better on an Austrian model. As such, he promotes Bitcoin as an ideal currency for the world to use, since its code-enforced supply of 21 million units prevents governments from mismanaging the economy and diluting its citizens’ savings.
The Bitcoin Office is designed to oversee all Bitcoin-related projects in El Salvador, and to coordinate with other countries on initiatives related to the asset. It’s also worked closely with the nation’s officials to develop policies related to the crypto sector at large.
Ammous is widely regarded as a “Bitcoin maximalist” – someone who is incredibly bullish on Bitcoin, but rejects most other cryptocurrencies as either redundant technology or outright scams. Existing members of the agency – including former television host Max Keiser and Stacey Herbert – also fall into this camp.
El Salvador’s crypto policy has already evolved to reflect this view to some degree. While being the first and only country to establish Bitcoin as legal tender, the nation passed a law in January requiring non-Bitcoin assets to be approved by the national securities regulator.