The state-owned Boeing 787 for sale. Source: a video screenshot, Youtube, Mexicoaeroespacial

A crypto exchange operator in Monterrey, Mexico, has launched an audacious crypto-powered bid to buy the country’s presidential aircraft for USD 138 million worth of tokens and a large swathe of land.

The move comes just days after Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador floated the idea of raffling off his predecessor’s USD 130 million jet after the government’s efforts to sell the plane over the past year came to nothing.

Per El Unviersal and El Sol de Mexico, Alfonso Jiménez, the CEO of crypto tech development firm Isatech, has asked the government to consider an offer that would see the company pay USD 138 million worth of its own Amero tokens, as well as handing over between 1,400 and 2,400 hectares of company-owned land in the state of Baja California Sur, including 10km of beachfront real estate.

In exchange, the government would give his firm the keys to the president’s plane and two other government-owned aircraft.

Isatech launched its crypto exchange token in summer last year. And earlier in 2018, it made yet more headlines when it paid USD 2.8 million worth of Amero for 1,400 hectares of Baja California Sur real estate, as reported at the time by El Economista. This is presumably the same land it now hopes to part-trade for the aircraft.

Jiménez says he has sent a formal proposal to the government, outlining the terms of the bid, but is yet to receive a reply. Isatech says the land it is offering would be ideal for a tourism development project.

In addition to the Boeing 787, which bears the name of revolutionary hero José María Morelos y Pavón, Jiménez wants to buy a Navy helicopter and a Learjet. The CEO stated that the helicopter would be used to fight forest fires and conduct rescue missions in the Monterrey area. The jet, meanwhile, would be used to ferry wealthy Mexicans to the United States to receive medical treatment.

The presidential plane itself would be used to transport foreign dignitaries, but would also be made available to the Mexican government in the event of a natural disaster.