BLUF
Bitcoin is a legal tender in El Salvador, so it has to be accepted in payment; however, only about 20 % of the population uses bitcoin.Summary
John Hawkins writing in BigThink, makes the following points:
- El Salvador is the first and, to date, the only country to make Bitcoin a legal tender.
- El Salvador still uses the US dollar.
- El Salvador’s President, ‘the so-called world’s coolest dictator’, said it would attract foreign investment and jobs—it didn’t.
- The government has lost about US$50 million in Bitcoin transactions.
- Ordinary citizens who took presidential advice to hold their money in bitcoins face huge losses.
- The International Monetary Fund urged El Salvador to drop Bitcoin’s legal tender status.
References
Recent Runway Posts related to this topic:
References from the Web:
- SEP 2022 A year on, El Salvador's bitcoin experiment is stumbling-Reuters
- NOV 2022 The little known crypto group that pulled in $33 billion last year-Sydney Morning Herald