El Salvador leader tells ‘boomer’ US senators to stand down over bitcoin adoption

El Salvador’s president rebuked several U.S. senators on Wednesday for introducing legislation targeting the Latin American country’s adoption of bitcoin as legal currency, referring to the lawmakers as “boomers.”

“OK boomers… You have 0 jurisdiction on a sovereign and independent nation,” El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, 40, tweeted. “We are not your colony, your back yard or your front yard. Stay out of our internal affairs. Don’t try to control something you can’t control.”

The tweet was in response to legislation proposed by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho) and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) called the Accountability for Cryptocurrency in El Salvador (ACES) Act.

The legislation would have the State Department analyze the risk of bitcoin as a legal tender in El Salvador and propose a way to mitigate risk to the U.S. financial system. 

“El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender raises significant concerns about the economic stability and financial integrity of a vulnerable U.S. trading partner in Central America,” said Risch.

“This new policy has the potential to weaken U.S. sanctions policy, empowering malign actors like China and organized criminal organizations. Our bipartisan legislation seeks greater clarity on El Salvador’s policy and requires the administration to mitigate potential risk to the U.S. financial system,” he added.

The move to make bitcoin a legal tender in El Salvador was also denounced by the International Monetary Fund in January.