The Pacific Islands are set to cause a stir in the Bitcoin community in the coming year. Lord Fusitu’a, a Tongan nobleman and former member of the Tongan parliament, has announced that Fiji has elected a new prime minister who is pro-Bitcoin.
Twitter uploads read:
Congratulations brothers Sitiveni Rabuka and Biman Prasad from GOPAC Fiji for winning your seats in the Fiji elections – And becoming the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Fiji. Toso Viti.
New pro-Bitcoin friendly prime minister in the South Pacific. Fiji’s newly elected Prime Minister Rabuka. Let’s go 2 for 2 – BTC Legal Tender Bill for the Pacific in 2023.
Rabuka has been elected as the new prime minister at the head of a three-party coalition government on December 24. Fijian voters ousted the FijiFirst government of Frank Bainimarama after two terms in office, expressing a desire for change.
As prime minister, Rabuka will be responsible for foreign affairs, climate change, environment, public services, information, and public enterprises, and lead a cabinet consisting of 19 ministers and 10 deputy ministers.
Lord Fusitu’a previously stated in a tweet on November 13 that he had a “half hour call” with Sitiveni Rabuka to recommend how to start BTC mining based on renewable energy and the best path to adopt for Fiji.
Define surreal & mainstream adoption in one sentence: just accept and wait half an hour on the phone with Sitiveni Rabuka asking for recommendations on how to start bitcoin mining based on renewable energy & the best way to #BitcoinAdoption for Fiji 🇫🇯 #Boom pic.twitter.com/K73X4rM5YD
— Lord Fusitua (@LordFusitua) November 13, 2021
Another source reported that Fusitu’a had explained to Fiji’s new prime minister via Zoom, step by step, how to follow El Salvador’s playbook to use Bitcoin as legal tender.
Do Fiji And Tonga Use Bitcoin As Legal Tender?
As for Tonga itself, Fusitu’a has given a timeline in January this year on how the island nation of 106,000 people can use Bitcoin. According to the noble, the country plans to use BTC as legal tender in the second quarter of 2023 and Bitcoin mining in the third quarter of 2023.
The island nation has 21 active volcanoes that can meet the electricity needs of the population many times over, offering great potential for mining with volcanic energy. Fiji, which is made up of 330 islands and has a population of 903,000, aims to generate all of its energy from renewable sources by 2030 as part of a 20-year plan.
Generating electricity from volcanic energy, supported by Bitcoin mining, can be an important lever for this. In addition, the island nation has a lot of hydropower, unlike Tonga, as Lord Fusitu’a explained.
In addition to mining, Bitcoin and the Lightning Network can generate significant savings potential, as Fiji receives more than 11% of its GDP from foreign remittances, according to the World Bank.
However, when Fiji’s Rabuka spoke to the nation for the first time as the new prime minister, he did not mention Bitcoin. Therefore, it remains to be seen how the story will unfold.
At press time, the price of BTC is at $16,600.
Featured images from Janis Rozenfelds/Unsplash, Charts from TradingView.com