365Crypto
Panama City’s mayor has a bold idea: let ships jump the Panama Canal line if they pay with Bitcoin.
Mayer Mizrachi shared the proposal at the Bitcoin 2025 event in Las Vegas. He suggested that ships using Bitcoin could get faster access through the canal.
“You pay in Bitcoin, you skip the wait,” Mizrachi said.
He spoke during a panel with Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert, Bitcoin advocates from El Salvador. Mike Peterson of Bitcoin Beach led the panel.
Bitcoin for faster canal access?
The Panama Canal is a shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Ships use it to avoid sailing all the way around South America. Nearly 5% of all global trade passes through it.
Between October 2023 and September 2024, about 10,000 ships went through, carrying over 423 million tons of goods. That earned Panama around $5 billion in canal tolls.
Mizrachi says accepting Bitcoin could modernize canal payments and speed up traffic.
Crypto dreams and global politics
Bitcoin in the canal is just one of Mizrachi’s recent crypto ideas.
He’s also proposed Panama City start a Bitcoin reserve — and says he doesn’t need lawmakers’ approval to do it.
He called on Panama’s government to back off regulating crypto for now.
“Don’t touch it. Let it run. Then decide what to do,” Mizrachi told the audience.
Meanwhile, the canal itself became a hot topic in late 2024. Donald Trump said the U.S. should take control back, claiming Chinese influence and unfair fees on American ships.
Bitcoin gains ground in Panama
Panama City already passed rules allowing crypto for public payments — including taxes and fines.
Mizrachi claims over $5 billion in Bitcoin transactions happen in Panama every year. But he says most of it happens quietly, because people are scared to go public with it.
His comments came as Panama declared a state of emergency in Bocas del Toro. Over 5,000 banana workers lost their jobs after weeks of protests for better social benefits. Chiquita, the banana giant, said it lost $75 million from the unrest.
