Founder of Mercury Free Mining and PACTO Gold, the open-source Co-Existence Mining Protocol to scale mercury-free processing with fair, assay-based trade.
I’m the originator of the Pacto Protocol — a Bitcoin-native, mercury-free standard for artisanal and small-scale gold mining.
After eight years working to reduce mercury use in ASGM, I’ve come to a clear conclusion: charity or enforcement don't work; aligned incentives do.
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Artisanal gold miners are often described as “illegal miners.”
But most are simply operating inside systems where lawful participation is economically inaccessible, administratively impossible, or slower than survival allows.
That distinction matters.
El Salvador es pequeño en tamaño, pero enorme en potencial. 🇸🇻⚡
Tenemos sol, volcanes, talento joven y una gran capacidad para innovar.
Cuando apostamos por proyectos energéticos, no solo construimos infraestructura… construimos futuro.
Eso es lo que representa Volcano Energy: desarrollar 241 MW de energía renovable en el país y convertir nuestros recursos en energía real para impulsar nuevas oportunidades.
Siguenos y comparte este logro salvadoreño para que más personas crean en el potencial de nuestro país.
🌐 https://t.co/RXiRZ6IOD3
#VolcanoEnergy #ElSalvador #EnergíaRenovable ⚡🇸🇻
Farzad @farzyness — pleasure meeting you at the SovAI Summit. My first visit to El Salvador, and I left with complete conviction. El Salvador is a beacon of hope for the world.
Farzad Mesbahi (@farzyness) at SovAI Summit on How to Win the AI Transition:
"El Salvador is unencumbered. You have a .. free path to the future ... El Salvador has the potential to become the beacon of hope for the world when it comes to adopting cutting edge technology."
@maxkeiser The machine economy and the human economy need the same rails — fast, permissionless, sovereign. What's underexplored is Lightning's potential for millions of artisanal gold miners who've never had a bank account. Same infrastructure. Profound human application.
@EconAtState El Salvador chose Bitcoin for sovereignty, not permission. When the State Department celebrates 75 U.S. firms discovering the "El Salvador investment climate", recall Virgil's Aeneid:
"Beware of Greeks bearing gifts."
Sovereignty demands carefully choosing one's partners.
Beautifully said @Isabellasg3! Attending the SovAI Summit in San Salvador two weeks ago, I came away completely inspired by the country, its visionary leadership, and warm, gracious people. Clearly, El Salvador is demonstrating to the world what’s possible.
This week the New York Times revealed that the U.S. Mint has been buying cartel-controlled Colombian gold — laundered through licensed buyers, stamped American Eagle.
I'm not surprised.
The current system wasn't built on integrity. It was built to serve intermediaries, not miners.
Meanwhile El Salvador just passed a law opening its gold reserves and explicitly banning mercury. A nation choosing to manage its sovereign resources responsibly and transparently.
A proven protocol exists that eliminates the need for mercury, recovers 90%+ of available gold, and pays miners fairly — same day.
El Salvador is setting the course for the future of gold mining.
https://t.co/RsuaC5WSLs
@maxkeiser@stacyherbert@bitcoinofficesv
Thank you @maxkeiser, @stacyherbert, and President @nayibbukele for creating something genuinely extraordinary.
I've been working in Latin America for 16 years, the vision here is distinct and palpable.
El Salvador is writing its own story.
El Salvador now houses the largest aircraft maintenance center in the world.
The Aeroman facility's ability to service both narrow-body (like the A320) and wide-body aircraft simultaneously makes it one of the few places on earth with such versatile capacity, placing El Salvador at the CENTER of the global aviation logistics map.
To be clear — that future is El Salvador's to define, not mine to prescribe. I'm going to San Salvador's SovAI conference to listen, learn, and offer what we've built at PACTO Gold if there's any interest. Nothing more.
@maxkeiser@stacyherbert
Bukele banned mercury in El Salvador's new mining law. Colombia banned it in 2018. Peru has banned it multiple times. It never works — banning without a viable alternative leaves the economics unchanged.
The PACTO protocol makes mercury economically obsolete.
What's missing is the sovereign nation that authors this standard — and carries its name forever.
The El Salvador PACTO Protocol. https://t.co/RsuaC5WSLs
I’m the originator of the Pacto Protocol — a Bitcoin-native, mercury-free standard for artisanal and small-scale gold mining.
After eight years working to reduce mercury use in ASGM, I’ve come to a clear conclusion: charity or enforcement don't work; aligned incentives do.
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