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Surinamese presidential candidate Maya Parbhoe plans to make Bitcoin legal tender if she wins the 2025 election. Parbhoe, who runs Bitcoin services firm Daedalus Labs, aims to phase out the Suriname dollar in her first year in office, replacing it with Bitcoin’s smallest unit, Sats. As part of this model, everyone would be paid in Bitcoin. Parbhoe also wants to disband the central bank, cut taxes, privatise public services, establish national Bitcoin bonds and enact widespread deregulation. Parbhoe views Bitcoin as a tool to combat corruption and help Suriname’s recovery, inspired by Nayib Bukele’s success in El Salvador.

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Maya Parbhoe, a presidential hopeful for Suriname, dreams of creating a Bitcoin-based nation that would even out-do El Salvador’s crypto commitment. Parbhoe, who manages a Bitcoin services firm called Daedalus Labs, is determined to combat fraud and bring clear, practical benefits to the people of Suriname using Bitcoin – that is, if she wins the upcoming elections in 2025.

Her main goal, should she win, is to make Bitcoin legal money the moment she steps into office. In her first year as president, she plans to slowly phase out the Suriname dollar and replace it with sats, Bitcoin’s smallest unit. She also wants to make sure everyone gets their wages in Bitcoin.

But Parbhoe has far-reaching plans that go beyond just making Bitcoin the official currency. She intends to disband the central bank, lower taxes, privatize public services and kick-off a number of initiatives like national Bitcoin bonds and widespread deregulation.

Parbhoe has been into Bitcoin for years, unlike other politicians who’ve only recently started dabbling in crypto. She revealed that her interest in tech, passed down from her dad, led her to the world of crypto in 2014. She joined a Telegram group called Whale Pool and attended some crypto conferences.

As she dug deeper into global financial markets, she was taken aback by how weak Suriname’s financial systems were. She saw this as a golden opportunity to set up a financial framework from the ground up, avoiding the same mistakes made by traditional money systems. As she puts it, she aims to “build an alternative where we don’t replicate the same issues that created this mess in the first place.”

The crypto enthusiast also views Bitcoin as a weapon against corruption in Suriname, a problem she has experienced first-hand when her father was allegedly murdered by a hit-man in the middle of a national scandal.

Parbhoe’s determination to fight corruption intensified when her dad, Winod Parbhoe, was murdered in a drive-by shooting when she was 13. The tragedy happened not long after Winod exposed a scheme where millions of US dollars were being diverted to bank accounts and supposedly used to fund the Colombian guerrilla group FARC.

Parbhoe says she was inspired by Nayib Bukele’s success in converting crime-ridden El Salvador into a crime-free nation. She is convinced that she can cause similar dramatic changes in Suriname by wielding the power of Bitcoin to bring transparency to government budgets, thereby unraveling the systematic corruption plaguing her country.

Parbhoe firmly believes Bitcoin is not just a financial instrument but a vital tool to establish a clear governance system rooting out corruption, which she thinks is key to Suriname’s recovery.

But Parbhoe’s path to the Suriname presidency was not straightforward. In fact, she didn’t consider running until Samson Mow, CEO of the Bitcoin accelerator Jan3, encouraged her. She juggled with the idea for several months, knowing it could mean giving up her private life and its accompanying freedoms. But, in the end, she decided to take it on.

Perhaps Parbhoe’s biggest motivation to enter politics is her grievance against chronic corruption in Suriname’s Central Bank, financial sector, and commercial banks. {” “}She firmly insists, “Corruption is ruining this country and preventing billions of dollars from investment coming in, hampering development.”

She believes Bitcoin creates an opportunity for money to be separated from the state and thus eliminates the possibility of manipulating the base layer because “everything is transparent.”

Parbhoe is also looking at setting up “a corruption bounty program” that would reward anyone uncovering fraud in the system. Her vision has gained considerable support from the Bitcoin community, offering some hope in her crusade against endemic corruption. Only time will tell if she can gather enough momentum to transform Suriname’s future.