Inside El Salvador’s Bitcoin experiment: Cointelegraph video report

Published at: July 27, 2021

Last month, Bitcoin was adopted as legal tender in El Salvador, joining the U.S. dollar.

The country's new Bitcoin Law, which will be enforced starting Sept. 7, will allow Salvadorans to use Bitcoin (BTC) as a currency to purchase goods and services, as well as to pay taxes and debt.

El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, has stated that Bitcoin adoption will hugely benefit the 70% of the local population that lacks access to banking services. He also believes that it will attract investments and create new jobs.

However, the Bitcoin Law has raised multiple concerns. Skeptics say the cryptocurrency's high volatility could pose a threat to the country’s financial stability. A very low internet penetration rate, along with a lack of education about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency within the country, could also prevent Bitcoin from reaching widespread adoption in El Salvador.

To boost Bitcoin adoption, President Bukele has promised to build the necessary infrastructure. This includes 1,500 Bitcoin ATMs and a government wallet meant to guarantee instant conversions of Bitcoin into dollars.

Will that be enough for Bukele’s monetary experiment to succeed? To answer this question, Cointelegraph talked with the people of El Salvador, as well as with critics and supporters of the Bitcoin Law.

Check out the full report from El Salvador on Cointelegraph's YouTube channel, and don’t forget to subscribe!

Tags
Adoption
Technology
Bitcoin
Law
Payments
Fiat Money
Remittances
El Salvador
Bitcoin Payments
Dollar
Bitcoin Industry
Related Posts
Volcanos, Bitcoin and remittances: A Tongan lord plans for financial security
A former member of the Tongan Parliament is behind a proposal to make Bitcoin (BTC) legal tender in the tiny Pacific nation of Tonga, following in the footsteps of El Salvador. It’s due for a vote in Parliament in May and the early signs are encouraging. Mataʻiʻulua ʻi Fonuamotu, Lord Fusitu’a told Cointelegraph that plans are in motion to use state-run volcano mining facilities to create wealth in Tonga. Tonga has 21 volcanoes. “That means one volcano for every 5,000 people.” He owns one volcano himself through his family’s hereditary land rights. The proposed Bitcoin mining operations would use the …
Adoption / Jan. 14, 2022
Bitcoin could reach $1M in 5 years due to fiat currencies’ collapse, says Samson Mow
Despite the ongoing bear market, Jan3 CEO and Bitcoin (BTC) proponent Samson Mow believes that the leading cryptocurrency could reach the $1-million-price benchmark in the next five to 10 years. The collapse of major fiat currencies will be a major catalyst, which he said can “happen very rapidly” and “are not anticipated.” ”It just sort of happens overnight, and then you are shoveling cash into a wheelbarrow,” he said in a recent interview with Cointelegraph. Mow made his prediction while commenting on the current state of Bitcoin adoption in El Salvador, about a year after it was adopted as a …
Adoption / Dec. 12, 2022
Bitcoin will gain from distrust in traditional finance, says bank strategist
Bitcoin (BTC) poses a significant threat to the world’s reserve currency, the United States dollar, according to a strategist at major American investment bank Morgan Stanley. Ruchir Sharma, chief global strategist at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, believes that the dollar’s reign is likely to end due to global distrust in traditional finance, while Bitcoin is likely to capitalize on that lack of confidence. In a Dec. 9 article in The Financial Times, Sharma provided a brief outline on the history of the world’s reserve currencies, noting that the dollar’s run had lasted 100 years at the start of 2020. According …
Adoption / Dec. 10, 2020
How are Afghans using crypto under the Taliban government?
After the Taliban took full control of Afghanistan in August last year, many international non-governmental organizations and services stopped operating in the country. Among them were payment services like Western Union and Swift. Many Afghans subsequently began to learn about cryptocurrencies and the underlying blockchain technology to — at the very least — receive remittances from abroad. As electronic payment services like PayPal and Venmo have never been available in the 5,000-year-old country, Afghans have lost many opportunities in the online business world. “We lost many opportunities like blogging, affiliate marketing and online dropshipping because most of them pay with …
Adoption / Feb. 22, 2022
El Salvador’s Bitcoin strategy evolved with the bear market in 2022
Cryptocurrency adoption has been on the rise in El Salvador in recent years, with the country becoming the first in the world to adopt Bitcoin (BTC) as a legal tender. This landmark decision has attracted the attention of the global cryptocurrency community and has sparked discussions on the potential benefits and challenges of widespread adoption. El Salvador’s controversial move with its cryptocurrency adoption would not have been possible if it was not due to President Nayib Bukele, who garnered international attention after announcing the Bitcoin adoption plan and passed it into law. The legislation required all businesses within the country …
Adoption / Jan. 6, 2023