LAS VEGAS, Nevada — The Mayor of Panama City, Mayer Mizrachi, is taking notes on bitcoin from the leader of El Salvador.

Speaking at Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas on Thursday, Mizrachi said he’s been thinking of ways Panama’s capital city, which is home to the Panama Canal, could implement bitcoin payments.

This includes potentially setting up a strategic bitcoin reserve for Panama City, as well as possibly taking payments — including for passage through the Panama Canal — in bitcoin, Mizrachi said.

“What if you have a perk for paying in bitcoin?” Mizrachi mused. “You’d get to go faster.”

Under Mizrachi, Panama City passed a bill that allows residents to pay for taxes, parking tickets, permits, and other fees with bitcoin BTC, ether ETH and some stablecoins.

Four years ago, at Bitcoin 2021, Nayib Bukele, the leader of Panama’s central American neighbor El Salvador, announced that his country would begin accepting bitcoin as legal tender. Mizrachi said he was directly inspired by Bukele’s policies.

LAS VEGAS, Nevada — You shouldn’t be a crypto libertarian that comes crying for government help when things go badly, according to Hester Peirce, the chief of the crypto task force at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

«I do think that sometimes, when something bad happens in this space, people who are remarkably free thinkers, libertarian-minded people, come in and say, ‘Where was the government? Why weren’t you protecting me? Hey, Crypto Mom, where’s my bailout?'» she told a crowd at Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas, referring to her industry nickname.

«C’mon, let’s have some consistency,” Peirce continued. “Yes, you should have freedom to make your own choices, and when it goes wrong, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, learn from it and do better next time. And that is the best way to move forward.»

Since Republicans took control of the SEC, including Commissioner Peirce and newly arrived Chairman Paul Atkins, they’ve worked to issue statements and directives to carve out corners of the crypto sector from the agency’s jurisdiction, including memecoins, some crypto mining and certain stablecoins. But there remains a pathway of policymaking the agency has started down while lawmakers in Congress are also working on sweeping new laws that could further set its agenda.

The SEC has a lot of current authority to clarify the nature of crypto securities, Peirce said, but if people want a U.S. federal regulator for retail trading, they’ll need Congress to produce legislation to make that happen. She put the question to her audience on Thursday, whether they wanted a federal crypto regulator.

«NO!» somebody shouted.

“There you go, you have one answer,” she quipped.

Peirce said that most crypto tokens aren’t themselves securities, and as a result, trading platforms handling them shouldn’t need to register with the SEC unless they’re also touching the securities world.

Asked about memecoins, which an agency statement said are outside its enforcement interests, Peirce offered it as an example of where investors need to look out for themselves.

“Be an adult,» she said. «If you want to engage in speculation, go for it. But if something goes wrong, don’t come complaining to the government about it.”

And as for the trend of companies putting digital assets into their own treasuries, she said public companies are entitled to do what they like — as long as they’re properly disclosing it.

«They can make their own decisions,» she said. «I’m agnostic.»

Rapper Soulja Boy will no longer perform at Stand With Crypto’s «get out the vote» event in Jersey City next week due to a court finding him liable for sexual battery and assault, a spokesperson told CoinDesk on Thursday.

Soulja Boy, otherwise known as DeAndre Cortez Way, and 070 Shake, otherwise known as Danielle Balbuena, were slated to headline the event on June 5, which was intended to bring out crypto fans a few weeks before New Jersey residents go to the polls to choose their nominees for the Garden State’s governor race, Stand With Crypto announced on Wednesday.

Stand With Crypto New Jersey chapter president Carlos Merino said in a statement that «This GOTV rally is one more example of Stand With Crypto’s commitment to mobilizing the crypto community ahead of New Jersey’s critical gubernatorial primary election.»

However, Way will no longer perform after Politico reported Thursday morning that he was recently ordered to pay a former assistant $4 million after being found liable for sexual battery and assault.

An external spokesperson for Stand With Crypto said in a statement that the organization was «not aware of the recent legal developments involving Soulja Boy.»

«Given this information, we have removed him from our event lineup. 070 Shake will still perform at our June 5th rally and we look forward to bringing together New Jersey’s crypto community to demonstrate the political power of crypto voters ahead of the gubernatorial primary,» according to the statement.

«Our focus remains on mobilizing crypto supporters and ensuring candidates understand that clear, sensible crypto policy is a priority for New Jersey voters.»

The lawsuit against Way dates back to 2021, though the jury ruling only came last month. Way said he would appeal the ruling, according to Courthouse News Service.

Way also performed at the «Crypto Ball,» an inauguration event sponsored by MAGA Inc. and Bitcoin Inc., as well as Crypto.com, Exodus, Anchorage Digital and Kraken back in January.