In Mexico’s Biggest Election Yet, Crypto Remains on the Sidelines

• In Mexico’s coming election, cartel violence, corruption and migration push any chance of crypto becoming an election issue to the sidelines.

• Voting in Mexico will take place on June 2, with results expected between June 5 to June 8.

Mexico is poised to have its biggest election ever in a few weeks, with 100 million voters choosing 628 elected officials, thousands of local officials and the president. And crypto issues will remain on the sidelines during the campaign.

The future of crypto will be determined by which party and presidential candidate takes over from President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who cannot run again under the constitution.

The three way battle for the presidency falls between Mexico City’s former mayor Claudia Sheinbaum fielded by the ruling left-wing Morena party, Senator Xóchitl Gálvez from the Strength and Heart for Mexico coalition and former legislative deputy Jorge Álvarez Máynez of the Citizen Movement party.

According to the polls, Sheinbaum is the favorite to win the presidency, with Gálvez and Máynez respectively a distant second and third.

Sheinbaum has indicated that the economic-integration between the U.S. and Mexico is such that whoever, Donald Trump or Joe Biden, comes to power, she’s confident of having a good relationship with both, if she came to power. Mexico is the largest market for remittances from the U.S. Her party’s government has so far kept crypto on the sidelines of financial integration, imposing a 20% tax on crypto gains, but without comprehensive legislation. A fintech law and other regulations require cryptocurrency exchanges in the nation to be registered under global requirements for anti-money laundering and terror financing.

Sheinbaum’s party has been projecting a focus on regulating blockchain to make the technology and ecosystem more secure.

In the unlikely event that any of the other contenders come to power, crypto still may not be front and center as a priority. Mexico has seen dozens of candidates murdered in the build up to this election reflecting cartel violence is one of the leading issues among corruption and migration

Still Gálvez and Álvarez Máynez’s party, have in separate ways, advocated for using blockchain to fight corruption in government and the real state sector, said Pavel Salas, chief growth officer at Gear.