Panama City Mayor Hints at Bitcoin Reserve After Talks with El Salvador Officials

Panama City Mayor Mayer Mizrachi has stirred interest in a potential Bitcoin reserve strategy after meeting with El Salvador’s top Bitcoin advisors, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert. In a cryptic May 16 post on X, Mizrachi simply wrote “Bitcoin Reserve,” igniting speculation just days before his appearance at the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas.

Although no official announcement has been made, the post suggests Panama City may be following the lead of El Salvador, which holds over 6,100 BTC—currently valued at nearly $640 million—as part of its national reserves.

Mizrachi has previously committed to enabling Panama City to accept Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether (USDT), and USD Coin (USDC), contingent on the rollout of crypto-to-fiat payment infrastructure. A formal reserve, however, would require legislative approval from Panama’s National Assembly.

El Salvador’s Bitcoin officials shared that their discussions with Mizrachi also covered Bitcoin mining and financial education. Panama may also adopt El Salvador’s “What is Money?” textbook as part of a citywide financial literacy initiative.

Other jurisdictions like Arizona and New Hampshire have already passed laws supporting state-level Bitcoin reserves. Ukraine is also exploring similar strategies for national reserves.

This move comes amid growing institutional interest in Bitcoin globally. Strategy, led by Michael Saylor, recently expanded its capital-raising plans to $84 billion to increase its BTC holdings. Japanese firm Metaplanet also added 1,241 BTC, bringing its total to 6,796 BTC—worth over $706 million.