Coin Stories host Natalie Brunell — who has 302,600 followers on Twitter — recalls feeling very tense before meeting with Salvadoran President and Bitcoin maximalist Nayib Bukele in March 2022.
“It was very formal, there were guards outside his office. What is funny is it felt very formal outside of his actual office. Then you walk in, and he’s very warm, very gracious and very humble,” she says.
Brunell was blown away by Bukele’s knowledge of Bitcoin.
“He was very educated and well-read on the topic of Bitcoin and economic theory, and he seemed to genuinely want positive change for his country through expanding monetary freedom.”
Brunell, who is also the host of the Hard Money show, took an unconventional approach to get the meeting, relying on the power of memes suggesting Bitcoiners will all end up working at McDonald’s every time the price goes down — so she put out a call on Twitter asking which McDonald’s she could find Bukele at.
Surprisingly, it worked out very well.
Brunell used to work as an investigative journalist covering politics, particularly “public corruption and public officials engaging in things like bribery and manipulation.” But as Bitcoin is trustless, she points out there’s no actual need to trust politicians who embrace it.
“I’m naturally skeptical of politicians, especially because of my news background. […] I think it’s a very powerful statement that he’s chosen to make sure it’s legal tender and protected in El Salvador.”
Despite her best efforts, Brunell’s attempt to contact ARK Invest’s Cathie Wood using the same method proved to be unsuccessful in June.
What led to Twitter fame?
Brunell never imagined that her follower count would blow up in the way that it has.
“I think the biggest shock, honestly, was when I reached 100,000 followers because I didn’t intend for the Bitcoin and the podcast work to be my full-time job.”
She reckons she was so caught up in her…
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